


Grade for Each Other

by Miraculous_Content



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Endgame Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, F/M, Grade Skipping, Luka is absolutely gone for Marinette, Luka knows, Marinette's going to murder Luka emotionally and he's going to enjoy it, Not salt but incorporates elements of it, The Quantic Kids are Luka's friends, music metaphors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:15:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 24,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26090239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miraculous_Content/pseuds/Miraculous_Content
Summary: Luka Couffaine was known for his ability to remain calm. After all, with his wiseness, maturity, and therapeutic guitar-playing, it was rare to see him express anything further than an aura of serenity.And then Marinette entered his class.
Relationships: Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 222
Kudos: 789





	1. Class Act

Luka stared blankly ahead, idly tapping the eraser of his pencil against his desk. His ability to focus on the sounds he was making and tune out everything else was both a blessing and a curse, but his deskmate and friend usually kept him in line when he got lost in a melody.

On cue, he felt his pencil leave his hand, snapping him out of his trance. He turned to see Claudine grinning at him, waving his pencil teasingly.

"That's the Marinette song again, isn't it?" she asked in a hushed whisper so as not to alert the teacher, even if class hadn't officially started yet.

He chose not to comment on how well she'd have to know it (or maybe him) to recognize it by simple tapping. "Guilty."

"When are you going to introduce us?" She gave a brief gesture to where Roche and Mito were sitting. "You expect us to _not_ be curious about the girl who finally took hold of that elusive Luka heart?"

"I don't have hers," Luka stated a little flatly. "And I don't want to throw off her tune by introducing too many instruments at once."

"There's only three of us," she objected with a pout. When he didn't respond, she lightly poked his shoulder and complained, "You're too nice."

Luka tried to prepare a playful not-nice comment, but nothing came to mind. He wasn't about to admit that she was right though, or she'd be smirking for the rest of the school day. Thankfully, the teacher raised a hand and called everyone's attention away before Claudine could catch on.

"Class, we have a new student joining us today," they said. "She skipped a couple of grades, so she's a little younger than the rest of you." They glared pointedly at the class, though barring a few students. "And I expect _all of you_ to treat her well."

Some students, like Luka, nodded, whereas others rolled their eyes.

The teacher turned, then made a gesture at the door, presumably to whoever was on the other side.

The door clicked, then opened. Simultaneously, a familiar melody entered Luka's ears, making him straighten in his seat.

Marinette walked into the room, standing by the teacher as she glanced over the whole class. Her eyes locked with Luka, and had he not been in such a state of shock, he definitely would've smiled at her.

She looked just as surprised as him, but managed a sheepish smile and turned her head to focus back on the class as a whole.

"I'm Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I—"

As Marinette continued to talk, Claudine snapped to attention. Her hand slammed down on Luka's arm as she leaned close, whispering hurriedly, " _That's_ Marinette?!"

Luka could only nod, not averting his gaze from Marinette herself.

" _Holy serenade,_ " Claudine said softly, "she's so small and cute." After a pause, she added with a sly smile that Luka couldn't see due to where his gaze was drawn, "You're in trouble."

Luka didn't respond even though he knew she was right. Part of him was certain that he'd fallen asleep during class, but the rest of him knew that he couldn't dream up a scenario so perfect.

Marinette was _here._ Marinette was _in his class._ Marinette—

The teacher looked around the room now that Marinette had finished talking. "So, as for where you'll be sitting..."

Claudine stood up, startling nearly everyone as she raised her hand insistently. "I'll move! She can sit here!"

Luka jerked his head up at Claudine, mouth gaped, then back to Marinette and the teacher. Out of all the places for Marinette to sit, the seat beside someone who had a habit of not causing trouble was a favorable one, and the teacher clearly was taking that into consideration.

Marinette was about to _sit next to him._ Luka's heart skipped several beats as he contemplated how much Claudine had thoroughly betrayed him.

The teacher turned to Marinette. "Does that work for you?" they asked.

Marinette eyed the seat in question, then slowly approached. Claudine quickly stepped aside, gesturing to the seat with a grand smile.

Luka watched Marinette's fingertips lightly touch the desk, her posture unintimidating as she gave him a hopeful smile. "Would that be okay with you, Luka?"

Had Luka been able to focus on literally _anything_ else, he may've seen Claudine mouthing _‘say yes'_ at him or the teacher looking confused at Marinette knowing one of their student's names.

After a moment, Luka managed to compose himself (along with about several songs inspired from this experience alone) enough to give Marinette a firm nod.

She beamed at him, slipping into the seat next to his and glancing forward with a look of approval.

Claudine was promptly moved to another seat, at which point Luka realized that she'd taken his pencil with him since she never gave it back. Marinette seemed to realize the same thing, pulling her backpack onto her lap and digging through it.

"Here." She offered him one of her own pencils, adding with an embarrassed smile, "I lose them a lot so I keep spares in here."

His fingers brushed hers as he took the offered pencil, and while he was sure his calm smile was convincing, it didn't negate the fact that his heart was pounding in his chest. He'd been so convinced that he'd only ever get to meet Marinette by chance or when there was something going on with Kitty Section.

Yet, here she was, _next to him,_ presumably for the rest of the school year. He was thrilled, confused, and hopeful all at the same time.

As class began, he'd gone back to tapping his pencil against the desk, but he couldn't get lost in the sound. He was too aware of Marinette next to him, even when he wasn't tapping her melody.

Claudine was right. He was in trouble.


	2. Ride With the Lunches

If Luka had to define his mood right then, it had gone from ‘frantic undefinable barrage of notes' to 'slightly less frantic but still undefinable barrage of notes'. Marinette skipping grades wasn't a surprise because she was incredibly smart and it wasn't shocking to him that she could pull it off. Being _in the same class_ as her, on the other hand, was absolutely _surreal,_ and he had too many questions to make it through the day without dying of curiosity first.

It was one thing to see Marinette every so often. He could predict that and be prepared for it. Heck, the first time they'd met, he'd just come out of _meditating._

Now, he was stuck with her _(bless)_ in an environment not of his element. He had no way to meditate, no guitar to play out his feelings, and no poker face that he could conceivably keep on for the entire day.

Factor in that he had three friends who were _absolutely not going to let this go_ \- given how they kept looking at him every time he glanced at where they were sitting - and he was in for a ride. The moment lunchtime rolled around, he was already anticipating a slew of questions with a round of teasing on the side. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see his friends already seated at the table, Mito standing up and waving him down because _of course_ they'd pick the tallest of the three of them to wave him and Marinette down.

He glanced at Marinette, wondering if she'd noticed, but she was focused on getting her food. Perhaps sensing that he was looking, she peeked up at him.

He smiled reflexively. "You don't have to meet my friends right away - or at all - if you don't want to, Marinette."

She let out a hum of curiosity. "Of course I want to! Plus, they seem really nice and—" She glanced past him to where his friends were sitting, Mito waving more rapidly now that he'd caught her attention. "... _inviting!_ "

Luka didn't doubt that they would've been inviting even if she'd just been a casual friend of his, but—well, they technically had ulterior motives. He almost felt like he was introducing a triangle to an over-packed orchestra, but Marinette nevertheless took her tray and waltzed right into it.

Filling up his own tray with an even pace, Luka followed after her and sat at the table with her and his friends. They'd already been rambling to her by the time Luka got there, seeming to introduce themselves to her since Claudine was mid-handshake.

"Claudine Corrine, nice to meet you! I do a little bit of everything here."

"Nice to meet you too!" Marinette exclaimed. "Thanks for letting me sit next to someone I know. I feel a little bad that you had to move."

"I don't," Claudine replied with a grin that Luka wisely chose to ignore. At least the casual nature of the conversation helped him pretend like his emotional high wasn't there.

Mito leaned slightly off his seat and raised a hand at Marinette in an enthusiastic greeting. "I'm Mito Penma! Miming's my thing."

Luka suppressed a chuckle at the way that Marinette's brows raised in a 'that's definitely not the impression your loudness gives off' manner.

Roche tipped his thick green hat, looking neutral. "Roche Ludovic, aspiring DJ."

"Oh," Marinette hummed with interest. "Maybe you'd make good friends with Nino then."

"Nino? Nino Lahiffe?" Roche's hand twitched. "...You mean the guy who appeared on The Challenge?"

"Yeah, him!"

There was a pause. Luka snorted, anticipating what was coming.

"...Mito," Roche called flatly.

"Yeah?" Mito asked in reply.

"Wall me."

Pushing himself up slightly, Mito made miming gesture in front of Roche, as if there were an actual physical wall in front of him. Hiding safely behind the metaphorical structure, Roche rested his elbows on the table and buried his face into his hands, his cool demeanor leaving him as he let out a low groan.

Marinette blinked in confusion. Luka leaned over to her, explaining, "He's always been jealous of the guy for appearing on TV. I think you bruised his ego."

She gasped. "O-oh! I'm sorry!"

Claudine chuckled, reaching over and behind the supposed wall. She grabbed the rim of Roche's hat, forcing it further down his face. Looking satisfied, she turned her attention back to Marinette and asked, "So, you and Luka met at the music festival a while back, right?"

"H-hm?" Marinette nodded, looking happy to be taken away from the previous topic. "Yeah, that's right."

Fingers steepled devilishly under her chin, Claudine asked, "Isn't it a little convenient that you got the class that Luka's in? You didn't do it on purpose, did you?"

Luka blinked, having not even considered the possibility. Of course, Marinette _did_ look surprised to see him, but maybe he imagined it? Was she allowed to be put her in a specific class if there was someone she knew in it, or—

"W-well, not exactly," Marinette admitted. She fidgetted in her seat, smiling sheepishly. "I _did_ think that Luka would be in the same grade as me and my parents even offered to talk to someone about getting me in a particular classroom if I wanted it, but..." She shrugged. "I wasn't going to intrude if Luka didn't want me around for whatever reason."

Luka didn't know whether to be touched by the fact that she thought of him or offended by the fact that she even _considered_ that he wouldn't want her in his class. He opened his mouth to voice the thoughts, only for Marinette to speak up again.

"B-but I kind of really hoped that we'd be in the same class, yeah."

Whatever prepared words Luka'd had to say, they left him in a single breath. He couldn't even pay attention to the looks he was being given by his friends, all of his focus locked on Marinette and everything that'd happened between her arriving in his class and now.

She didn't just consider his feelings; she was _thinking about him_ as a whole. She _wanted_ to share a class with him.

It's not that Luka had never considered that he and Marinette were friends. She was sweet, funny, intelligent, and wore her heart on her sleeve. He'd always seen her as someone close to his heart and hoped that she saw him as someone she could open up to at the very least.

But it was the first time he'd really _heard her_ talk about wanting to be close to him. When they spent time together, it was usually because she'd already been with Juleka and the others. Now though, it was different because they were spending time together that she'd _hoped_ he'd be there for, and they'd do so for at _least_ the rest of the school year.

Luka didn't realize how long he'd been staring until Marinette looked up at him. He didn't know what his face looked like, but whatever it was, it made her cheeks turn pink.

He averted his gaze, partly out of politeness and partly to save a shred of his dignity. He locked eyes with his friends, all of whom looked some level of amused.

Mito leaned forward, hands on his cheeks as he grinned wide. "Better make sure you don't skip any more grades, Marinette! You know what they say; two grades make a right."

Roche commented impassively, "That's not the phrase, for one, and for two, that phrase has nothing to do with this conversation."

Mito pouted, staring at Roche in confusion. "School's a two-grade street?"

"Still wrong."

"...Two's company, three's a crowd?"

Roche opened his mouth, paused, then closed it. Throwing his hands up, he relented. "Close enough."

Marinette covered her mouth, stifling a giggle. Waving dismissively, she assured, "Don't worry. I won't skip anymore!"

As she went to take a bite of her food, everyone seemed to collectively realize that none of them had touched theirs either. They all began to eat simultaneously with her, earning a smile out of her.

" _Besides,_ " she said softly, so much so that Luka imagined he was the only one who heard her, " _I think I'm really going to like it here._ "

Luka _desperately_ needed that guitar right now.


	3. Walk It Up

Luka wasn't sure how much information he'd actually retained from the school day, and honestly, he couldn't say that he cared. He probably just ended up smiling to himself the whole time, likely leading people to think that he was just _really_ happy with whatever was being said.

If said things came from Marinette's mouth, there'd at least be some truth in that.

Luka looked over to Marinette as they left school together, watching her dig into her backpack for something seemingly important. Just as he was about to ask her if she wanted help, she finally pulled out a single piece of paper and held it straight out, her face determined and the gesture singing, _‘victory!'_

She clearly didn't know that he was staring and was just acting on her own energy. She was so adorable and he couldn't help grinning.

Swinging her backpack over her shoulder, she—

"Marinette?" he called.

She looked over at him, halfway to unfolding the paper. "M-mm?"

He pointed at her backpack, which she hadn't closed yet.

She glanced over her shoulder. "Oh!" Blushing in embarrassment, she asked, "Can you...?"

He smiled. "Gladly."

Stepping behind her, he grabbed the zipper tab and pulled it around to neatly close her backpack. He could hear her fiddling with the paper and respected her privacy enough not to peek at it over her shoulder.

Suddenly, Mito called out behind him, " _Luka~!_ "

He looked over, seeing Claudine, Roche, and Mito almost huddled in a vague circle, which could only mean bad things according to him. Claudine was grinning, Mito was waving and Roche was giving him a two-fingered salute.

Without turning his head, Luka glanced at Marinette's backpack, then pulled his hands away, raising them to show his innocence.

The three promptly went back to discussing things amongst themselves. He was suspicious, but wasn't going to eavesdrop. It was entirely possible that they were talking about where the four of them were going to hang out that day, but he imagined that wasn't it, or they would've involved him.

To his side, Marinette made a sound of discomfort, vaguely mumbling what sounded like his name. Taking that at his cue, he finally glanced at the paper in her hands.

It was a map, seemingly of the walk from school to her home. He knew full well that her old school was just a brisk walk from there to her house, so it made sense for her to be prepared for something longer.

Her brows were furrowed. Her nose was scrunched up. Her lips were pouting just slightly.

Finally, she sighed, mumbling, "Ah, nevermind..."

Luka straightened, realizing what she'd been about to ask. He could imagine the difficulty of her eying the map and also having to keep looking up to ensure that she wasn't blindly walking into danger.

Immediately, he asked, "Marinette, would you like to walk home together?"

She turned her head to him so quickly that he recoiled. Her expression had shifted instantly to surprise and hope. "Really? It's not—I mean, I've never had to before and thought that maybe it was a little childish and—"

"It's not," he insisted with a reassuring smile. "Your house is closer than mine anyway. I don't mind."

He _really_ didn't mind.

Marinette's shoulders relaxed. "Thank you. I thought maybe you'd have plans with your—" She leaned to peek around him. "—oh."

He tossed a quick glance over his shoulder, seeing that his friends weren't there anymore.

Ah, so _that_ was their plan.

He looked back at her, watching her take a quick look around, then at her map. She turned, then headed off in one direction, to which he happily followed after her.

"How's Lycee playing for you?" he asked idly as they walked, hoping that she was still comfortable with her situation.

She smiled. "Good so far. A lot more relaxing."

He'd already guessed it from how she behaved throughout the day, but it was nice to hear nevertheless. Part of him had presumed that her suddenly being in a higher grade would've been jarring.

"I'm getting used to it pretty quickly." She briefly made eye contact with him, her grin almost sly. "Plus, my deskmate is a lot calmer, which is nice."

His smile was far too wide to be normal. Reminding himself to pay attention to where they were going rather than her, he looked ahead. "I'm glad I could help. You deserve it, Marinette."

She sighed, almost blissfully. "Thank you."

Seeing the street they were about to cross, he reached out and gently grabbed her shoulder, stopping her. She looked up from her map to stare at him confusedly, then noticed a car passed by.

"Oh." She gave him an appreciative smile, then walked across when it was safe to pass. "Sorry. It might take a bit before I memorize how to get here and how to go back."

"There's no need to apologize." He followed after her and shrugged, wholly unbothered. "I'd walk you home every day if I could, Marinette."

It took him a second to realize what he'd said; that he'd clearly lowered his guard too much around her. He went to take it back, but paused when he saw the amused but happy look on her face.

Voice laced with a bit more confidence, she tilted her head back and stated, "I might have to take you up on that."

 _Please do,_ his heart sang. He knew he'd be teased forever but it'd be totally worth it.

They kept walking, Marinette slowly getting better at watching where she was going while also following her map. The click of her flats against the sidewalk was a pleasant accompaniment to his own footsteps, so even when they didn't talk, he still felt like they were communicating.

"...Luka?" Marinette suddenly piped up.

He met her gaze, hearing the unspoken question and feeling the shift in atmosphere. "What is it?"

"You—I mean, I guess you should know. I guess Juleka didn't say anything, and that's why you didn't know about me skipping grades."

"You don't have to—"

"I _do_ though," she insisted. "It's just... I had to get away."

There was a pause, after which she straightened and corrected, "N-not from Juleka, of course! Your sister is fine—she—it's wasn't _her_ that—" She cut herself off with a whimper.

"Even if it _was_ Jule, I wouldn't judge you, Marinette," he assured. "Some instruments just don't go well together."

She slumped. "What about when an instrument makes all the other ones sound terrible?"

His brows rose. "Someone else?"

She nodded. As they reached a street crossing that forced them to stop, she turned to him. "There was... this girl in my class. She's—and you don't have to believe me—but she's terrible."

"I believe you," Luka told her without hesitance.

Marinette blinked. "What?"

"I believe you," he repeated. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Because—" She sighed. "Juleka likes her, and she likes Adrien."

He was surprised, not in what she said, but how her voice sounded when she'd said it. There was a distinct lack of the usual 'ching' when she said Adrien's name.

He tried not to think about it, knowing it wasn't important to their current topic. "I trust you, Marinette. Jule..." He hesitated, then settled for, "There's a reason she is the way she is."

"Ah," Marinette uttered softly in acknowledgment. They were free to cross the street at that point, so she did alongside him, simultaneously getting back on track. "Well, she—not Juleka, the other girl—she's a liar. I tried to tell everyone but..." A bit of life left her voice. "They wouldn't believe me."

His fingers twitched. "She's new?"

"Yeah." She tried to focus on the map despite being clearly distracted. "She talks about all the famous people she knows and how talented she is, and she gets away with it whenever she can't prove something because it's just _lies_ on top of _lies._ I was so _sick_ of seeing her lead everyone on, but... there was nothing I could do. Adrien knew and he—he told me not to do anything."

Luka couldn't help the quiet "what?" that escaped his lips. This was all new to him and he couldn't comprehend that he hadn't heard a word of it before.

Marinette continued, "I mean—I know he didn't know that she threatened me, but she said that I'd lose everyone if I wasn't 'with her.' I didn't even really _try_ anything after Adrien told me not to, and she—she got me _expelled_ anyway."

The brief silence made it all the more clear to Luka how _tired_ Marinette was all of a sudden, which was a stark contrast to the storm brewing in his chest. "That's—" He stopped to breathe. "That's why you left?"

"I got back in," Marinette assured, "but I just... I couldn't do it anymore. I thought about it, and the whole class was just _exhausting._ I was already the class representative, and then I had _her_ to worry about, and then no one was believing me, and I—I had to _go._ " She rubbed the back of her head nervously. "T-there were other reasons too, but that was the big one. I _did_ tell everyone I was leaving, so they knew some of it and even _then_ it was a lot, but it felt like I didn't have any other choice."

He nodded in understanding, trying to remain as calm as possible. Going off wouldn't help him - it would only get him akumatized - and that would've just caused her more stress.

Spontaneously, Marinette stopped in place, staring down at the ground with a distant expression. Luka stopped as well, facing her with a concerned expression.

"Marinette?"

"You must think I'm selfish," she murmured. "I...I abandoned everyone just because it was hard for me."

"What? _No,_ I—" He instinctively reached for his guitar strap, glaring at nothing when he realized it wasn't there.

He looked around, getting a rough estimate of where exactly they were at the moment. An idea struck him, and he hastily asked, "Do you mind going off the map for a bit?"

She met his gaze, obviously confused as to what this had to do with what she'd just been saying. Still, she nodded.

He turned and went down the street, walking a bit faster than he normally would. The sound of Marinette's footsteps trailed behind him, assuring him that she was following him without hassle.

At the sight of the music store he'd managed to navigate to, he pushed the door open and held it until Marinette was inside. Afterward, he headed for the nearest guitar that he could handle, sitting down so it could rest in his lap. Looking up at her, he brought his left hand up to the guitar's neck. "See these strings?" He slid his fingertips onto them for emphasis.

She tilted her head, but nodded. With cautious curiosity, she approached and sat down in front of him, placing the map on her lap.

"Guitar strings are strong. They have to be to deal with all the strumming they go through," he explained. "They're tight, but they have the give they need to be played properly."

He eyed her, ensuring that she was still watching him. She seemed to recognize by then that he wasn't going to criticize her, so the tenseness in her shoulders had mellowed.

Making it so his fingers were across every string, he gripped them and pulled down; not enough to where he knew it'd cause actual stress, but enough to where it'd make someone inexperienced with guitars - like Marinette - _very_ nervous.

"They can only take so much stress. They either wear out over time, or—"

He let go, Marinette initially flinching as if she'd expected the strings to actually snap. He waited a moment for her to process that, then held up two fingers to imitate string cutters.

"It's better to cut them than to let someone snap them. If something snaps them, it could cause some damage, but at least you're ready if you cut them yourself." He ran a hand from the top of the strings all the way to the bottom. "You can't replace the feeling of all the songs you played on them, but you can replace the strings."

He stared at her, observing the subtle shift in her expression. She looked thoughtful, her posture easing forward as she eyed the strings he was touching. Even when his own friends didn't understand his music dialect, she always seemed to take him seriously and understood the emotions he was conveying. He couldn't begin to explain how it made him feel, and he only hoped that she might feel the same when he comforted her, like now.

"You're not selfish, Marinette. Not at all." She met his gaze, and he continued, "You're taking care of yourself, and that's great. You have enough going on as it is."

She held eye contact with him for a moment longer. He didn't waver, not moving a muscle until she did so first.

Finally, she closed her eyes. She inhaled, exhaled, then gave him a small smile without looking directly at him.

"Thank you," she said. "Do you mind if we head back now?"

He smiled, satisfied. "Of course not."

Returning the guitar to its original position, he stood up and turned, Marinette already holding the door open for him. Together, they walked out of the music store, retracing their steps until Marinette could start following the map again.

They didn't talk for the rest of the walk to her house. Luka never pressed for conversation either, as the slightest look at her confirmed that she wasn't sad anymore; just soaking in what they'd talked about.

Eventually, the 'Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie' came into view. Luka waited until Marinette stopped in front of it, then he stepped around to face her, giving her a comfortable distance between them.

He expected a simple 'good-bye' or maybe just a wave if she wasn't feeling up to it, but instead, she gushed, "I'm so happy that you like having me around, Luka."

He gaped. He must've looked funny doing it too because she giggled.

"I—I was a little worried at first. You were quieter than usual while we were in school—" Oh, so she noticed. "—and I thought that maybe I did something, or you were thinking something bad about me."

He shook his head, even though she'd already confirmed that she didn't think that anymore. He dared to step forward, placing his hands on her shoulders and lowering himself so they were eye level.

He looked into her eyes with conviction. No matter what she thought _now,_ he wanted her to know what he thought _then._

"The only thing I was thinking about you is how this is all new to me, having my favorite melody around for the whole school day."

He felt her stiffen underneath his hands, her eyes wide and practically sparkling. "R-really?"

He swallowed at her powerful gaze, but managed to maintain eye contact with her. " _Really._ Yes, I was quiet because of you, but it was only in the best way."

She blinked at him, still looking to be in a state of surprise. Admitting to himself that he probably came on a little (okay, a lot) strong, he dropped his hands back to his sides and stood straight.

Not wanting her to feel pressured to respond to such a bold statement, he gave her a small wave and turned to leave. Just as he was facing completely away from her though, a pressure collided with his back, making him stumble.

A pair of arms wrapped around his waist, the light color of the skin unmistakable. He blushed as he realized that Marinette was _hugging him from behind._

" _Thank you,_ " she whispered. "Thank you so much, Luka, for everything. I'm so glad you're here and that I'm in your class."

He shuddered at how _genuine_ she sounded. There was a distinct fondness in her voice, reminiscent of a harp that she'd so casually strummed every string of without effort.

The reverberation rung in his ears, and he could even swear that she was even _nuzzling his back._ He had to remind himself to breathe.

It was too much. _She_ was too much. Still, _somehow,_ he managed to pull himself together enough to rest one of his hands on hers.

"Me too, Marinette."

They stayed like that for a few seconds longer, with him all too aware of the sound of her breathing. Then, just as quickly as she'd hugged him, she pulled away, clearing her throat audibly.

"A-anyway, _b-bye,_ " she squeaked out. He could practically _hear_ the blush in her voice, followed immediately by the sound of the bakery's door open and closing.

Marinette apparently stumbled a bit while inside, but he hadn't seen it for certain; only heard it. It wasn't because he hadn't _wanted_ to turn to look at her, but rather because his body wasn't listening to him.

All at once, he sunk down to sit on his ankles, burying his face into his hands and exhaling against his palms, in a complete state of _bliss._

He loved that girl.


	4. Unfair Guitar

Juleka looked up at Luka as he crossed the gangplank to step onto the ship. She'd made a confused comment about his big grin and the skip in his step, but he was casual about it and told her that he was simply having a good day.

It wasn't a lie. He'd just thought it best to avoid the subject of what _exactly_ had transpired, given what Marinette had told him. He trusted his sister, but he knew where her weaknesses were; she had a lot of anxiety and easily folded under pressure. It thrilled him that Juleka had friends of her own, but some tended to be pushy (he was too polite to voice names but he definitely _thought_ names), and he wasn't burdening Juleka with any sort of knowledge when Marinette was perfectly happy as things currently were. The _last_ thing either needed was something stirred up.

Thus, he passed by Juleka with a calm shrug over her question on how he was meant to be out with his friends by this point. Walking across the deck, he passed by the cabin, where Anarka was leaning on the helm of the boat.

"What's got your sails out, son?"

He glanced up at her, knowing that she wouldn't as easily let it slide. Grinning, he replied, "New member in the crew."

Her brows raised, either in interest or suspicion. "...A co-captain?"

Luka held back an _"I wish"_ and instead shook his head. Regardless of how much of a crescendo he was riding, he wasn't dating Marinette or anything.

He walked on, heading downstairs to go below the deck. There was a song in his heart, urging him to move faster, but he tried to contain it. He let the notes build and develop as he slipped into his room, his fingers finally touching the neck of his guitar.

And then his phone went off.

Luka's mouth turned to a thin line, Claudine's ringtone almost seeming to taunt him. Silently, he wished he'd just played the guitar that he'd grabbed at the music store when he was with Marinette.

Pulling out his phone, he accepted the call and held it to his ear, taking a seat on his bed to get comfortable. "Hi, Cee."

"Hey—" She paused. "...I almost didn't get that."

He could hear a shuffling noise, followed by the sound of a high C note on a flute.

"So, how was your _walk home,_ Couffaine?"

He snorted. "I thought you'd forgotten about me."

"You know I didn't." He could imagine her innocent shrug. "Does that mean you had fun with your melody?"

"Not _my_ melody," he reminded her.

"Sounds like she's definitely _some_ melody though, considering that you haven't played her out yet."

He blinked, wondering how she could've known. "What?"

The smirk was evident in her voice. "You've been tapping a tune on the back of your phone."

Luka stiffened, realizing the position of his fingers on his phone. He pulled the phone away, then switched the hand it was in so he could tap at his leg instead. It was a much quieter sound at least.

"Anyway, you didn't answer my question," she pointed out. "How was the walk?"

He frowned, not because she was prodding for details, but because said walk involved Marinette becoming upset. It wasn't entirely bad, but there was little he could tell her.

"It was... a lot," he replied simply.

She hummed. "A lot? So the usual for you then, at least whenever you're around her?"

He didn't respond even though she was right. Debating with himself for a moment, he then spoke with a hint of caution to his voice. "Look, Claudine, about you guys leaving me and Marinette alone—"

" _Spare me._ " she interrupted with a snort. "You've played that tune way too many times. _You don't want to pressure her, she likes someone else, you're an angel sent from heaven above who's too nice to pursue her in anyway, blah blah blah._ "

He hunched forward, brows furrowed as he tried to sound more stern. " _Claudine—_ "

" _Luka._ " There was a sound in the background to imply that she'd sat down on a thick chair of some kind. "Look. You're a sweet guy and I think that's great, but the girl you love _skipped two grades_ and ended up in _your_ class by pure coincidence. You're just going to pass that up?"

He sighed. "A good song'll never come together if I force it."

"And a good song will never come together if you don't _try,_ " she argued, sounding exasperated.

Luka opened his mouth to disagree, but found himself at a loss for words, instead biting his lower lip.

A few seconds passed, probably as Claudine gave him a moment to respond if he had anything to say. When he didn't, she let out a calm breath and continued, "There's nothing wrong with walking someone home. It doesn't _have_ to be romantic, right?"

"If it makes her uncomfortable—"

"Did it?"

He was immediately reminded of Marinette hugging him from behind, causing him to blush. "...No."

"Then what's the problem? And hey, if she's in love with some other guy, what if you're better for her?"

"I'm not the one who makes her happy."

"Oh yeah, I'm sure the fond eyes she gives you are just for show," Claudine joked. "I'm just saying, what if this guy's gonna end up making her miserable?"

He briefly cringed at the memory of going to the ice rink with Marinette, Adrien, and Kagami.

"I'm not telling you to get down on one knee and propose - _even though I'm sure you're there emotionally anyway_ \- but how about you just let yourself _be happy_ for once without worrying about all the conditions you've gotta add onto that? You're not pursuing her, but you're just letting her know that... what's the phrase? That there's many fish at the sushi bar?"

"You've been hanging around Mito too much."

" _My point is,_ you're not doing anything wrong by letting her know how you feel. You're not getting into her space and you're not forcing anything on her. You're just hanging out like friends do, and so what if you happen to be alone?"

He managed a smile. " _Happen to be?_ You three _left us_ alone. I'm starting to think that you're just doing it to see my reactions."

"It's a bonus," she shamelessly admitted. "Anyway, consider it. I'll let you get back to your Mari Melody now."

He let her have that one. "Thanks."

The phone clicked, Luka pulling it away to stare at the screen momentarily. He exhaled, then set it aside and went for his guitar again, plugging it into his amp before settling down on his bed.

He'd just gotten his guitar into his lap when his phone went off yet again. Luka was starting to believe that fate was thoroughly against him at this point, but then he noticed that it was at least Marinette this time, and only a text message. Happy, though slightly concerned that she was slipping back into her solemn mood during their walk, he picked his phone back up and navigated to their messages.

_Oh my gosh! I just realized that I have NO idea what I'm going to do about studying! New school, new lessons, and I'm not prepared at all!_

_Do you study???_

_Not that I'm implying you don't or that you don't care about it, but some people don't need to or are comfortable where their grades are, you know?_

He smiled, able to read how much her mind was moving faster than her fingers just by how quickly the messages had come in. He leaned back against the wall, his forearm resting on the body of his guitar as he watched more messages pour in.

_I'm just asking because maybe we could study together? Like a study date?_

_NOT LIKE, A DATE DATE._

_Especially if you bring your friends which would be totally okay! I don't know them well yet, but they're really nice so far!_

_Or maybe THEY don't study so it would just be you and me then?_

_BUT NOT A STUDY DATE._

_IT'S JUST A DATE_

_ON THE CALENDAR_

_WHERE WE'D STUDY._

_SO NOT A STUDY DATE DATE._

_YEAH?_

He chuckled. The sacrifice of not being able to play yet was well worth it to see that she was back to normal again.

He went to respond, but stopped as he saw that she was still typing. The typing bubble seemed to be going through a pattern of appearing, disappearing, and then reappearing. He waited until, finally, the last message popped up.

_I mean, unless you want it to be...?_

His mouth dropped open. The only thing saving his phone from falling onto the bed, given the sudden slack in his fingers, was the angle of his palm. He reread the message a few times, just to make sure he wasn't reading it wrong, then averted his gaze to the amp that he had plugged his guitar into earlier.

It suddenly looked incredibly small and pathetic.

After what may've been a full minute of just sitting there, Luka set the phone aside and got up. Securing his guitar to his back, he unplugged it from the amp and turned to walk out of his room. He went up the stairs and back to the cabin, where Anarka was still idling.

"Mom, can I borrow your amp?"

"Atta boy!"


	5. Jam Session

Luka now understood what it was like to be Marinette when she was conflicted and overthinking things.

The single selfish cell in his body wanted so badly to answer her texts by accepting outright that their first study session can indeed be a date. Things being as they were, he wasn't so doubtful as to think that she'd put herself out there like that if she didn't have _some_ level of interest in him. Regardless of the little voices in his head prodding about Adrien, she'd made a move and any lack of reciprocation would make it seem like he's not interested anymore.

And he was _very_ interested, not to mention that his friends would never forgive him if they knew he'd turned down what was essentially Marinette asking him on a date.

At the same time though, his friends _did_ often study with him. They all had different specialties and did well at helping each other, so it didn't seem fair to agree to Marinette's offer without telling them first.

Thankfully, after getting all of his feelings out with his guitar (and probably cleaning out the ears of everyone in Paris, according to Anarka), he felt mentally prepared enough to reply to Marinette's text.

_I'd have to talk to my friends about what they're doing first_

_but know that I'd love to have a "study date date" with you, Marinette._

He was pretty sure that his heart shouldn't have been beating so fast over _texts_ on a _screen,_ but Marinette did things to said heart and he wasn't ashamed to admit it.

* * *

Juleka had always told him that Marinette could be flaky when it came to arriving on time, which was why it surprised Luka when he walked into class and saw Marinette already sitting at their desk (he may've cracked a smile at the mental acknowledgment of it being _their_ desk). It wasn't that he doubted her capabilities, but the Marinette he was told about tended to differ (even just slightly) from the Marinette he actually saw.

It was still surreal seeing her there, but he tried not to stand in place for long since, well, even though he didn't look at them, his friends were _definitely_ watching him.

He headed towards Marinette, stopping just before he got behind their desk. She was staring at something in her lap that he couldn't see, a pink blush and wide smile on her face. Not wanting to be nosy, he simply stood in place, giving her the chance to hide whatever it was as he went, "Hey, Marinette. Good morning."

She jerked up, her phone - ah, so _that's_ what it'd been - flying up into the air as she turned her head to him. "L-LUKA! Ah—good morning—" She finally noticed her aerial phone. "UM—!"

She tried to catch it, the phone being knocked back up into the air a few times by her frantic hands. It did a masterful amount of flips before she managed to get it back.

Luka dared a glance at his friends. Claudine grinned, Roche covered his mouth (probably to hide a snicker), and Mito dug into his backpack to pull out a sign with a ‘10' on it.

"G-good morning," Marinette said, getting back his attention. "Sorry, that was—" She lowered her head, rubbing the back of her neck. "— _really embarrassing._ I know I'm not usually like that around you."

He smiled reassuringly and slipped into his seat. "Don't worry about it. Everything okay?"

"Yeah! Just..." There was a hesitation there that almost reminded him of how she interacted with Adrien. She stared down at the now-black screen, running a thumb across it, then shyly admitted, " _I was re-reading the text you sent me._ "

Oh. _Oh._ That— _that_ was _nothing_ like how she interacted with Adrien. She was just genuinely embarrassed.

And _he_ was genuinely flustered. He even glanced down at her phone as she turned it back on and, sure enough, it was open to their conversation.

Well, those little voices were most certainly quiet now. Either that, or he was ignoring them in favor of being blissfully happy.

"Me too."

She peeked up at him. "Hm?"

He took out his phone, showing it to her as he unlocked it so she could see that he had their conversation open too. She smiled almost instantly, her blush even returning.

She placed a hand over his phone, covering the screen, then leaned in to ask quietly, "S-so, did you talk to them...?"

He shook his head. "No, but I'll ask them at lunch, promise."

After all, he would've gotten chewed out by Claudine had he told her all the details right after she'd just lectured him about being too selfless.

* * *

"What we're all doing for studying?" Roche echoed as they all sat at the lunch table.

Luka nodded.

"That's not like you to ask," Mito observed, tilting his head. "What's up?"

Luka went to answer, only for Marinette to cover his mouth and sheepishly cut in, "It's because of me. _I_ made him ask."

Claudine leaned forward with sly interest. "Oh?"

Marinette removed her hand from Luka's face, explaining, "I, ah—realized that all these lessons are going to be really new to me, so I was thinking of having a study partner, but I didn't know what you three would want to do?"

Luka found it impressive how all three of his friends raised their brows, glanced at each other, and grinned at the same time, as if the movements were coordinated. The fact that he knew they weren't coordinated at all made it even more impressive.

"Well, we wouldn't want to overwhelm you with too many helpers," Claudine claimed, "and Luka would know you best anyway. The three of us can have our own study session, no big deal."

"Are you sure?" Marinette asked.

Luka was amused at how oblivious she was to the meddling going on.

"Positive," Roche confirmed.

She nodded, unsure but not exactly unhappy either. Turning her attention back to Luka, she asked, "So, is it okay if we go to the bakery for it? Or..." She hesitated. "we could go to your place instead, if you want?"

He knew without clarification that she was thinking about Juleka; maybe not even in a fearful way, but just a concern that things would be awkward. He couldn't blame her.

"Your place is great," he assured with a smile. "It's quieter than the Liberty and I know the way even if we don't end up walking there together."

She beamed at him, then went back to focus on her food. All things considered, it was for the best; his own food was going to go cold if she kept talking to him.

He took a bite of his food, being halfway to reaching for his drink when he noticed his friends staring at him again, and not even with sly looks this time. He blinked, giving them a questioning gaze.

Roche spoke up first. " _Bakery?_ "

"Yeah!" Marinette exclaimed, clearly not thinking. "My parents run a bakery and it's part of our house."

A silence settled over the table, the three friends seeming contemplative all of a sudden, brows furrowed with conflict. Then, without warning, Mito stood, grabbing Claudine and Roche by the back of their vest and hoodie respectively.

"Huddle."

He pulled them out of their seats and they went with him without a word, crowding in a circle with him as they whispered to each other.

Marinette paused for a few seconds before her eyes went wide. She covered her face, realizing with a groan, " _I shouldn't have said bakery._ "

Luka chuckled. "It's alright. You've lived there your whole life, so of course you don't think about it."

"Yeah..." Stiffening, she uncovered her face and turned to him. "W-wait, I mean—it's not that I'd have anything _wrong_ with your friends, but—ah, I guess I'm just repeating what I said over our texts now..."

He honestly thought it to be adorable how she wanted to spend one-on-one time with him but simultaneously tried to be part of his friend group. It meant that she cared; that she wanted to _try._ She'd just gotten off from her own little friend group, so it was understandable that she wanted to ensure that there were no misunderstandings. Luka appreciated that she cared about his friends _and_ how they felt even when she didn't know them that well yet.

"I'm sure we'll still get some time together with just us," he assured.

She blinked, then tilted her head. "Really? How do you know?"

Without missing a beat, he replied, "Because they know that I'd want to spend some one-on-one time with you."

His smile was as bold as his statement.

" _O-oh,_ " she uttered, halfway to some sort of realization as she blushed. "Oh."

" _Luka!_ " Mito whisper-called. When Luka glanced over, Mito added, " _Come over here for a sec._ "

Marinette tossed Luka a concerned look, but he looked back at her with a reassuring one. He got out of his seat, then joined his friends waiting for him.

"We'll go for the sweets," Claudine stated bluntly, "but _also_ to make sure you don't bring your guitar."

Luka's brows raised. "Why?"

Roche replied, "We know you. If she's there, you'll _never_ stop playing it."

...Okay, that was fair; doubly so if Luka considered what happened the day before. He didn't know why he'd even asked.

Claudine wrapped an arm around him, leaning close to add, "Besides, maybe you won't focus either way, but it'll be better to have your hands on the books than on your guitar when we're studying. You've already got your little song sheet sitting next to you in class, and _we've_ gotta make sure that you're reading more than just _her_ so you can get at least half-decent grades."

That was also fair.

Luka gave them a calm smile. "Alright. I'll text you the time as soon as Marinette lets me know."

"You're letting her decide the time too?" Claudine asked playfully.

Luka paused, then turned his head to see Marinette waiting for him rather than eating, her head lowered in a show of respecting the privacy of the conversation. Though the strands of hair currently prevented him from seeing them, he knew that the earrings were there.

Looking back at his friends, Luka left it at, "She has a crazier schedule than we do."


	6. Study Up

Luka had visited the bakery (or at least the inside of it) only once before, when he, Marinette, and the rest of Kitty Section sent their music video to Bob Roth. Tom and Sabine had acknowledged their presence, but were too busy at the time to do much else.

That was why it surprised him when he entered the bakery and Tom set his sights on _him_ instead of either of his friends or _Marinette._ With an exuberant shout about how "Luka was here!" (Luka had no idea why this was important enough to vocalize), Tom strolled up and stopped right in front of him.

Luka briefly saw his life flash before his eyes as Tom lifted him up into what was an _extremely_ powerful bear hug, Mito's voice briefly cutting in to insist that Luka had done nothing wrong and didn't deserve this.

Luka's breath left him, his back cracked, and the daze he was left in when finally put down had him off balance as Tom ruffled his hair for effect. Thoroughly confused, even when Tom walked away and told them that he'd send snacks up later, Luka glanced over at Marinette. Her face was pink with embarrassment and she was playing with the collar of her shirt.

That's when Luka remembered: Marinette had hugged him _right_ in front of the bakery. If Tom hadn't seen it at first, Sabine had probably seen it and gotten his attention. It _had_ been a long hug, after all. Luka didn't know much about Tom and Sabine, but given that they were _Marinette's_ parents and clearly _very_ different from his _own_ mother, he could guess. Maybe they'd even asked her about it and she'd told them vague details?

Either way, Luka couldn't stop the pink blush from appearing on his face. Marinette's hug had been so... _"distracting"_... that it hadn't even occurred to him that they'd have an audience.

Roche jabbed him with an elbow. In the most serious tone possible, he complimented, "I don't know what happened, but you're doing well with the in-laws."

Luka didn't comment. He'd been doing that a lot lately. He just turned his attention to going up the stairs with everyone else.

" _I'm so sorry about that,_ " Marinette whispered beside him. "They were really worried when I was going to a new class with people I didn't know, so when they saw me h-hug you back then..." She trailed off.

He smiled. "I don't mind. I'm happy that your parents trust me."

She snorted, the blush not quite off her face yet. "That's an understatement."

As they gathered outside the door to the living room, Marinette opened the door and held it until everyone was inside. Promptly shutting it, she shrugged off her backpack and held it up for effect. "You can set your things anywhere. Just don't forget it when you go home!"

Mito beamed appreciatively. "Thanks! This is a nice place you've got here, Marinette."

"You mean her parents' place," Roche deadpanned.

Pouting, Mito responded, "I mean, I'm sure she could own a place if she wanted to. We're all _basically_ adults, right?"

He proceeded to balance his backpack on the lamp next to the bookshelf.

Claudine took a seat on the couch and clapped loudly, earning everyone's attention. " _Okay!_ So, we're studying. What do you guys want to do first?"

"I—" Marinette paused, fumbling a bit as she took her book out of her backpack. "—maybe just the lessons we went over for the week? The teachers said they'd tell me what chapters to go over if there's a test coming up that I missed the lessons to."

"Lucky," Claudine said in a playful, jealous tone. "You'll let us in on the details when it happens, right?"

Marinette went stiff, staring at Claudine for a few seconds before shifting uncomfortably. "Ah... um—"

" _I'm kidding,_ don't worry!" Claudine assured, snorting and waving a hand dismissively. "We'd never do anything to get you in trouble, Marinette!"

Her shoulders eased in response. Letting out a sigh of relief that sounded very much like the words _"don't scare me like that again"_ without actually _using_ those words, Marinette went over and sat next to Claudine. She set her backpack between her legs, then sorted through it to find her books.

Luka felt the nudges of both Roche and Mito as they passed him, each giving him looks before sitting down on the couch as well and leaving a _very_ obvious space between them and Marinette. Part of Luka wanted to mutter something to them about being too obvious all this time, but really, most of their actions made sense given that Marinette knew him best out of all of them. Had she shown signs of discomfort, he definitely would've asked them to relax, but as it was, she seemed unbothered by all of it.

He walked over, taking a seat next to Marinette. She tossed him a small smile before continuing to pull out books, eyeing them with shaky confidence.

Roche was the first to start shuffling through his own books, efficiently finding the pages containing the lessons they'd done. Luka wisely held back from finding the pages, knowing that the table would be full of open books by the time they were done, even just adding in Claudine's and Marinette's.

At least it looked amusing to see them figure out how to rotate their books so the pages would be visible enough.

Marinette scanned the assorted books. "Let's start with... _this one!_ " She pulled out one of her books, Claudine and Roche following suit while Luka shuffled through his own book. Mito realized belatedly that his books were still in his backpack - which was still balancing on the lamp - though Roche was happy to share.

The actual study session started at that point. Luka had no idea how often Marinette studied with her former friends, but judging from her nerves and what he knew about her, he guessed that her kwami helped her when her friends couldn't.

At least, he hoped so. He presumed that all miraculouses worked the same, but he _also_ figured that not all kwami were alike. Sass, in the few times Luka had spoken with him, seemed helpful and attentive, but he had no idea what Marinette's was like. Marinette relied on him for comfort which, while flattering, simultaneously worried him when he wondered if her kwami was well-versed in her needs. Part of him kept hoping for an accidental eavesdrop or glimpse at the kwami that'd give him an idea of what they were like.

The other part was currently taken by Marinette's relaxed expression, her shoulders easing more and more the longer the studying went on. Given how social she was, he supposed that he should've suspected that she'd be so calm around his friends eventually, but nonetheless, it made him happy.

They were thirty minutes into studying before the door clicked behind them. They all collectively glanced over the back of the couch, Tom coming in with a dramatic lift of a tray in his hands.

" _Ta-daaaah!_ " he exclaimed in a sing-song voice. Luka gave his pitch a six out of ten for note-holding and a ten out of ten for enthusiasm.

Mito, Claudine, and Roche all made quick work of clearing the table of books, leaving an absolute (but acceptable) mess everywhere else. Tom walked over with an approving smile at all the studying they seemed to be doing, particularly with Marinette still holding her book as if ready to continue at any moment.

"I made these _especially_ for studying!" Tom assured, gesturing proudly to his work. "They're study sweets!"

Roche picked one of them up, pretending to study it critically. "Good alliteration at least. Not sure if ‘study sweets' are a thing but who am I to question a professional baker?"

Mito made a noise that sounded somewhat like, _"exactly,"_ but it was hard to tell when his mouth was full. Luka simply smiled and went for a treat, saying, "Thank you, Mister Dupain," as politely as he could.

Claudine took a bite of one of sweets first, humming in delight before echoing him. "Yeah, thank you! These are great!"

"Thanks, Papa," Marinette said, a little stiff but genuine. They _had_ been pretty in the zone with studying so she was probably eager to continue.

Tom was _beaming._ "Any time, kids!"

"Except not _this_ time," Roche observed with a smile, "because _we_ have to study and _you_ have a bakery to run?"

Tom's brows raised. He pouted, lost for a response, then settled for laughing boisterously. Giving an approving look to them, he turned and waved dismissively. "Alright, alright, I'll get out of your hair."

As he walked away, Claudine gave the sweets another look. "Maybe we should split these up between us?"

"So it's even or so no one scarfs all of them?" Mito asked.

"Yes."

Marinette glanced at the tray and nodded, seemingly to show that she'd been listening. Luka noted the way her eyes slowly scanned the table, gears turning in her head while she herself remained completely still.

Then, she abruptly straightened and shut her book, inadvertently getting everyone's attention.

" _Ah!_ I forgot to offer you guys drinks!"

There was a beat of silence, followed by Marinette looking regretfully down at the book she just lost the page number for. Luka reached over in an unspoken offer and she passed it to him with a mouthed _"thank you."_

She got up, then left for the other side of the room. While he flipped through her book to find the page they'd been on, she returned with five plates. In their usual harmonious fashion, Roche, Claudine, and Mito began dividing the sweets evenly amongst the plates.

Luka looked up as soon as he'd gotten the book to the right page. "Do you want any help with the drinks, Marinette?"

"Ah—" He could see that instinctive _no_ about to play from her lips, but she reconsidered too quickly to get it out. "—if you want?"

He set the book down and followed after her. They walked over to the kitchen, but just as she'd opened the fridge, her phone went off.

Luka didn't have to guess what it was; his own phone had started vibrating at the exact same time.

An akuma alert.

Marinette opened her purse, then pulled her phone out. If their synced phones weren't enough, her disappointed expression certainly made it obvious.

"Um..." She glanced at him, then his friends, then the fridge. "I... I better go get more drinks! There's not anywhere _near_ enough variety here!"

His friends gave her confused looks, Mito speaking up to point out, "You don't have to do that though?"

"Oh, but I do!"

Luka could see the strain in her smile at the lie.

"A-anyway, I'll be quick!" Her hand shot up in an awkward wave before she shoved her phone back into her purse and ran off. "You can eat my share of sweets!"

"But—" Roche tried to cut in.

The door shut, frantic footsteps following after. Mental gears turned in Luka's head as he turned back to his friends.

"...Well," Claudine spoke up, "on the plus side, now we can nominate you _both_ for sainthood?"

Mito made a gesture akin to popping confetti, but Luka wasn't in the mood to laugh at it.

"...I'm going to go after her," he managed, brows furrowed. "She doesn't know what any of you like."

If they gave him any sort of "knowing" look, he didn't see it (and they would've been wrong anyway). He was out the door and down the stairs in seconds.

He couldn't imagine what lying to one's friends must've been like for Marinette, especially since she'd been doing it for a lot longer than he had. Her not being a particularly _good_ liar probably didn't help that either.

He exited the bakery, then finally checked the alert on his phone to get a rough gauge of where the akuma was. He made sure to take the long route there, not wanting to accidentally run into Marinette and inconvenience her.

He couldn't recall exactly _when_ he'd started doing this, though it was definitely after Ladybug had given him the snake miraculous. He knew there was little he could do, but since he'd already helped her once, it gave him a sense of comfort to be nearby in case Viperion was needed.

Part of it was him being a "worried boyfriend," as Claudine would've put it. He had full faith in Marinette's abilities as Ladybug, but there was still a part of him that wanted to be near even if she didn't know he was there. It kept him close to the action while simultaneously out of harm's way.

And if Ladybug _did_ happen to need him, he could easily get within her line of sight. He knew how it worked by now, mostly from observation, and it was the Lucky Charm. If she stayed to use it, she didn't need help.

As Luka got to his destination, he found a far off place to hide, then peeked out. It wasn't hard to see Ladybug and Chat Noir fighting the akuma, both because they could jump so high and because the place was devoid of other people.

He forced himself to suppress the twisting sensation in his heart. Ladybug was a great hero, but things could always go wrong. It didn't do him any good to worry, so it was best to just keep an eye on things without really _thinking._

Eventually, Ladybug summoned her Lucky Charm. He couldn't tell what she was looking at from the distance between them, but when she finally _did_ jump away, it wasn't to go far.

No miraculous today, it seemed.

Luka let out a breath, then pulled his phone back out. Ladybug had a plan, meaning there was little room for doubt anymore.

Keeping the news window on his phone available for later, he located the nearest shop that sold drinks and started to make his way there. Given the lack of severity of this particular akuma, he doubted that Marinette would forget about the drinks, he could simply wait for the battle to be over and then call her. It would save her some time at least.

Thus, he made it to the store he found and idly waited, leaning against the wall and watching any updates from the fight on his phone. Following that, he noted the way Ladybug left and knew that he wouldn't have to call her at all, so he merely preoccupied himself with checking any texts he may've gotten after he left the bakery.

Only a few minutes later, he heard her voice. "Luka?"

He glanced over, seeing her phone held in both of her hands. She'd presumably found the shop in the same way he did.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, slipping her phone into her purse.

"I thought you might come here since the akuma was just taken care of." Not many people were eager to flood back into a place where an akuma was, after all. "You don't know what my friends like, right?"

"Oh?" She paused, then gasped. "Oh! I don't! I'm glad you're here! _I mean, I would've been glad anyway, but—_ " She stopped herself, pouting at his amused smile, then walked up and took his wrist in her hand, quickly changing the subject. "You must've taken a different route than me. I ended up running right towards the akuma!"

"Really?" he asked, feigning surprise. "Were you alright?"

"Mhm! Ladybug and Chat Noir were there, so it was okay!" She beamed at him. "Anyway, shall we?"

He nodded and let her lead him inside, happily awaiting the inevitable disagreement over who was going to pay for the drinks.

* * *

When they returned to the bakery, Marinette opened the side door and was about to head up the stairs when something caught her eye at the front of the bakery. Luka followed her gaze and noticed his friends talking it up with Tom and Sabine, three empty plates on the table nearby.

The moment he approached alongside Marinette, Claudine saw them out of the corner of her vision. "Oh, hey! You're both back!"

Everyone turned to them. Mito frowned and slumped over Roche, hands on Roche's shoulders and chin resting on Roche's head. "We heard about the akuma attack. You two end up okay?"

Marinette raised the bag of drinks with flair. "Yeah, we were fine!" She grinned at Luka, who read her expression right away and nodded to back her up. "So, should we get back to studying?"

" _Oof,_ ah~" Claudine looked off innocently at the wall and Luka immediately knew where this was going.

Roche shrugged Mito off of him and explained, "Actually, we should be going now. We have other things to take care of, but you two can keep studying together, so don't worry!"

Luka tossed a glance at Marinette, watching her expression cycle from confusion, then self-consciousness, then realization. He could practically _see_ their previous conversation flash through her mind.

_"I'm sure we'll still get some time together with just us."_

_"Really? How do you know?"_

_"Because they know that I'd want to spend some one-on-one time with you."_

Her cheeks tinted pink. "N-no problem! You should still take these though!"

Luka offered his hands, Marinette handing him his and her drink before giving the bag of drinks to his friends. Still, they lingered, presumably to finish whatever conversation they'd been having with the Dupain-Chengs, so Luka simply headed back upstairs with Marinette to let things continue.

Marinette took the two drinks from him, then went into the living room. Her eyes scanned the neatened-up table with hers and Luka's book, along with the two plates of uneaten sweets.

She frowned, a little disappointed. "I wish we could've finished at least," she admitted, setting the drinks down near the sweets.

He wanted to point out that it wasn't her fault - it was the akuma's - but he wasn't supposed to know that. It was one of the bigger disadvantages to knowing her identity.

He hummed in thought. "Well... at least this means our _study date date_ can start, right?" he reminded her, remaining calm despite being slightly worried that he was coming on too strong.

She straightened, then looked over to him with her brows raised. After a pause, she brightened up, blushing with a, "Yeah, you're right!" before an abrupt horror settled over her face. "...Wait, _no!_ Not right! Not _al_ right! I mean—"

With unusual swiftness, she picked up a pillow and ran over to him. Shoving it into his face, her footsteps indicated that she was rushing off and up the stairs to her room, voice echoing, " _Don't look at me!_ "

Luka felt strangely compelled to continue holding the pillow to his face, though that didn't stop his confusion. He could only hope that neither Tom nor Sabine came up to ask him what he was doing and why Marinette wasn't with him, as he legitimately had no answer.

A little over a minute passed. He heard the trapdoor reopen. "I'm back! Sorry!"

He chuckled. "Am I allowed to look now, Marinette?"

"Wha— _yes!_ You... oh my gosh, _please take the pillow off._ "

He grinned and lowered the pillow from his face, squinting briefly at the sudden lack of darkness. He tossed the pillow aside, then turned his head to see—

_oh._

Marinette sheepishly twirled a strand of hair. "I know it's not - you know - a _real_ date, but... I wanted to change at least."

He could only nod, eyes scanning her "date-appropriate outfit" up and down and never lingering on any one thing for too long. He felt underdressed all of a sudden, or perhaps _over_ dressed considering his usual layers. It wasn't even the outfit that'd surprised him, but rather how _seriously_ Marinette had taken their own suggestion. No matter how much he told himself that he shouldn't be so stunned - that literally _everything_ she'd said was leading to this moment - he couldn't stop.

Marinette shifted, but her smile seemed to indicate that she knew he wasn't displeased. "Ah—before we get back to studying, can I ask you something weird?"

He finally snapped out of his trance as she walked past him and went for the couch. "Weird?"

She sat down, setting her purse next to her before rifling through its contents. She presented him with her phone, replying, "I...I want to take a picture of us for that clipboard I have next to my bed."

He approached, taking a seat next to her while keeping a polite distance between them. "What's weird about that?"

"W-well, because I waited until your friends weren't here, and because of what it's replacing, and—" She stopped, studying his calm yet happy expression. Looking back down at her phone, she relented, "Okay, maybe it's not _that_ weird."

He leaned just slightly to watch her prepare her camera's settings. She seemed so determined to get things right, constantly testing the lighting options against the room to make sure it looked good.

"You can do whatever makes you comfortable for this," she said idly. "I won't mind. I want a really natural picture."

He eyed her for clarification, but she was too focused on adjusting the camera.

Natural? What made him comfortable? What did that mean? He was "natural" normally, so unless she meant—

"Ready!" Marinette exclaimed, raising the camera to just above eye level and getting into place.

Luka felt a tentative hand at his side as she pulled herself closer to him. Her meaning clicked - _she wanted him to feel welcome to touch her_ \- and his heart skipped a beat at the realization of it. He had no idea if she _knew_ how often he'd thought about holding her hand or hugging her, but this was probably as close to a hint as any that he was going to get.

Their eyes met, her expression a mix of invitation and a shy, _"is this okay?"_ Her scent was _powerful,_ her clothes seeming so freshly cleaned and dried that Luka swore there was still lingering heat to them.

He swallowed, his hand coming to rest on her shoulder opposite to him. "I'm glad I didn't bring my guitar."

Her shyness turned to confusion; almost offense. "Why? You're so good with it!"

"I know," he replied, "but... I don't think even _I_ could play a melody as perfect as this."

Marinette's face lit up in bright red, her grin wide and showing off her teeth for only a moment before she ducked her head to hide.

Simultaneously, he heard a clicking noise. He looked to see that Marinette's finger had slipped. The camera had caught her red-handed - red- _faced?_ \- with all her blushing, alongside his own love-struck expression.

He figured he should say something like, _"Oops,"_ but that would imply that he felt bad. Honestly, he wanted to frame it.

"Ugh," Marinette groaned, finally seeing what she just did. "I look terrible. Can we do it again?"

"If that's what you want," he replied as he released her shoulder, "but can you send this one to me first?"

Her head rose to look at him, searching his eyes. She squinted, asking with suspicion, "Are you teasing me?"

He chuckled. "Not at all. I just really like it." He glanced at the picture, gaze fond. "You wanted it to be natural, and if that's your natural response to what I said, I'm happy. It's a very _you_ smile, and I love that."

She looked confused, but gave the picture another look. He tried not to stare, feeling like she deserved some sort of private moment.

When a minute seemed to pass by without her saying anything, he glanced back at her. "Do you want to do anything different for the next picture?"

She was still staring hard at the picture. With a far too serious look on her face, she responded, "...No."

He said nothing. She peeked up at him, apparently realizing the daze she was in.

"Um— _no,_ is what I meant. I... don't want to take another one."

She settled back against the couch, now staring at her phone with fondness rather than seriousness. She looked at peace, and Luka silently hoped to see more of it.

"You're right," she admitted softly, "I... _I like it._ "


	7. One for the Book

Luka smiled fondly at his phone, scrolling through his latest conversations with Marinette as he reminisced. Ever since their "study date date," Marinette had made further efforts to spend time with his friends, occasionally sending him pictures or rambling texts about it.

Claudine may or may not have teased him about "stealing" Marinette from him if he didn't take action. He merely smiled, not just because he knew it was a joke, but because Marinette making an effort to know his friends even without him being there made him immensely happy. He found no reason to feel jealous and rather encouraged it. As comfortable as he was letting Marinette rely on him, having more than just him was a good thing, at least if it involved good people.

Plus, their conversation had brought him endless amounts of amusement. She asked for tips and hints as if it were a game she was trying to win, like being friends with _his_ friends was incredibly important and she took it very seriously. He'd insisted that she didn't have to do anything special and she was surprised when that actually worked.

He knew they'd like her. Granted, he was _very, extremely biased,_ but Marinette was a naturally likable person. It would've been weirder if they _hadn't_ liked her, and even then, they'd probably feel bad about it.

Luka snorted at the idea, ignoring the guitar on his lap in favor of continuing to scroll through his phone. The amount that he and Marinette had texted each other had multiplied ever since she joined his class, so there was a lot for him to grin stupidly at.

Then, said "stupid grin" was promptly smothered by a pillow hitting his face. It dropped down in front of him and he looked ahead confusedly to see Juleka standing there, her visible brow furrowed as she shifted uncomfortably. She looked irritated but simultaneously apologetic about the pillow she'd impulsively(?) thrown at him.

Turning off his phone, he set his guitar to the side and got up. "What's wrong, Jule?"

She stared at the floor, rubbing her sole against the floorboards. It took a few seconds but she eventually mumbled, " _Marinette..._ "

Oh.

"I was with the rest of the girls and I saw Marinette hanging out with Roche. Alix figured out the rest later." She glanced up at him, but couldn't hold eye contact for long. "Why didn't you tell me she was in your class?"

He frowned. He supposed this conversation was inevitable, but it still hurt to see his sister so upset. He stepped towards her, placing his hands on her shoulders and bending down to be just slightly below eye level with her. "It wasn't something for me to tell you, and I never talked about it with Marinette. Things are easier for her with us and I wasn't going to pressure her to let me tell you if she wasn't comfortable with it."

"So I messed up?"

"You—" He shook his head. "Jule, there were a lot of things going on in your class. It was just too much for her. You definitely weren't the main reason, okay?"

She let out a neutral sound, acknowledging that he was probably right but still feeling bad anyway.

"Jule..."

"Does she still want to do stuff for Kitty Section?" she asked hopefully.

He knew she wasn't being selfish about it; it was just her way of asking if Marinette was still willing to see her or if any guilt should be had if she didn't.

"I'll ask her." He could promise that much at least. "As soon as it's all behind her, I'll ask."

She nodded, accepting that. He let go of her shoulders as she walked past him, her expression not fully happy and rather conflicted. In a way, he considered it a good thing; Juleka reflecting on _why_ Marinette had left would make her think more about everything that'd happened.

Especially with that liar and all of Marinette's former friends.

Her former...

Realizing something, Luka returned to his bed, leaning over it to retrieve his phone. He navigated back to his conversation with Marinette, checking her most recent messages. After all, if Juleka and Alix knew that Marinette was in his class, that meant that the rest of the girls probably knew as well. He didn't know them well enough to even _guess_ what they wanted to do with that information, but he just had to make sure that Marinette was okay.

There was nothing, not even a bunch of, _"I'm sorry! They found out!"_ s. He sent her a few vague texts asking how she was (not wanting to tell her something important over the phone), but after waiting the usual amount of time for a reply, there was nothing.

...He had to go see her.

He reached for his guitar, but rejected the idea and simply pocketed his phone. Glancing Juleka's way, he told her, "I'm going to check on Marinette," before heading for the doorway.

" _Should I come?_ " Juleka mumble-asked, her voice sounding apologetic, and confused all at once.

He halted, turning to her but holding back his immediate reply. Giving her a smile, he replied, "You thinking about it is already something, Jule. Don't worry about what to do until you're sure what happened."

She went back to quietly staring at her desk, allowing him to slip out of the room and start to head out. Anarka had shouted some comment after him about "braving the storm," but he was too distracted to reply properly.

* * *

Tom and Sabine were busy with customers when Luka entered the bakery, meaning that he wouldn't have to brace himself for another hug from Tom. It felt wrong to enter from the side door of the house considering that he wasn't invited, so he was prepared to wait in line to talk to Sabine if he had to.

However, Tom noticed him first. "Ah, Luka! What brings you here?"

A few customers glanced back to look at him. Luka ignored them, focusing on the matter at hand.

"I wanted to see Marinette. But, she didn't invite me, so if—"

"Oh, you can just head on up!" Tom insisted, apparently laughing at the politeness on display. "Just be sure to knock! Don't want to surprise her _too_ much!"

Luka opened his mouth to argue, but thought better of it. He really just wanted to see Marinette.

He passed by Tom and Sabine, then made his way upstairs. He hadn't been there that often and was always led around when he was, but he knew the layout anyway.

A song where the lyrics stuck in one's head even with just a couple listens, he supposed.

Once he was in the living room, he headed up the stairs and hesitated for a few seconds before knocking. He listened closely, but silence was the only response he got. He didn't know if his voice would be louder than the knock, but he called anyway, "Marinette?"

A sound followed, like Marinette was scrambling to stand up. "Luka?"

He heard footsteps and waited for her to open the door. She looked utterly confused to see him there and he felt a little sheepish at how unbothered she looked in the moment; she was clearly okay, like nothing had happened.

"Hey."

"Hey!" She smiled despite her confusion, gesturing for him to come in if he so wished. "What are you doing here?"

He went into her room, watching her close the trap door behind him. "I thought you'd heard about Juleka. You weren't answering your messages so I got worried."

"Oh!" She covered her mouth. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to—I didn't even hear—" She paused, expression shifting. "W-wait, what about Juleka? Is she okay?"

"She's fine," he reassured. "She... found out about you being in my class. I think all of her friends did too."

Marinette frowned, approaching him anxiously. "Did she get mad at you? I'm sorry, I should've—"

" _No._ " He was quick to correct. "She was mostly confused, that's all."

"...Oh."

Suddenly, all the anxiety left her. She let out a breath, placing a hand to her chest. "That's a relief."

She turned away, returning to the table on the other side of the room. "I hadn't even thought about telling anyone, especially not lately. I didn't even think about it causing problems."

So she hadn't even been worried about anything that happened? Only that it may've caused trouble for him?

Luka blinked, then let out a steady breath. He found himself taken by how much Marinette had changed ever since she'd gotten into his class. It was subtle at first, but now it was obvious that she wasn't as stressed or panicked as much even with the mention of old friends. To say he was happy was an understatement.

"I'm still sorry about not answering your texts though," she said. "I really didn't see them—I mean, I know _you_ know that because they're probably not marked as 'read', but... I got really into working on this and I guess I didn't hear my phone."

He saw her start to reach for an object on her table, but she stopped as her gaze was drawn to her phone. She hesitated, then picked it up, tapping a few things and then typing.

Luka heard his own phone beep at him. Pulling it out, he noticed that his recent messages were now on 'read' and she had replied to them as if they weren't currently in the same room together.

She blushed, explaining sheepishly, "It would've bothered me forever if I didn't reply properly."

He giggled. She was too cute. "Thank you."

She turned her attention back to the object and finally picked it up, letting out a sigh. "I guess it's just like me to accidentally ignore someone while I'm making something _for_ them."

He perked up, approaching her. "You made something for me?"

"Yeah," she admitted, voice only slightly shyer. "It was kind of an excuse to hang out with your friends—"

" _Our_ friends," he offered gently.

She didn't hesitate to "correct" herself, but was clearly touched. "To hang out with _our friends_ one on one, but they all told me the same thing anyway: that I knew you and shouldn't worry about a second opinion. It's actually been done for a while, b-but I might've gotten carried away with making it look as good as possible."

She held it out to him. It looked like a beautiful music-themed notebook at first - the kind with rings to allow the removal, addition, and replacing of pages - but as soon as he took it and opened it up himself, there were—

"Staff lines?" He glanced at her, eyes wide.

She shifted in place, but nodded. "I always noticed you tapping away melodies on your desk. I don't know how easily you remember them, but it seemed like such a waste not to let you get it down right away."

The obvious and appropriate reaction was to thank her, but he found himself at a loss for words. The notebook was _extremely_ beautiful and would simultaneously look so natural for him to have. If a teacher saw him with it, they'd probably presume that he was just using it to take notes.

While opened, the pages actually didn't reach to the left and right edges of the book. The extra space was taken up by things like a pencil holder (that held two pre-sharpened ones just in case apparently) and thin colored sticky notes, presumably for marking a page if he needed to.

It was too much. He couldn't stop feeling the darn thing. He'd gotten a handmade gift from Marinette before in the form on his Kitty Section costume, but this was different. It was something _just for him,_ because she'd just _casually_ thought of him and wanted to do it.

He looked at her and opened his mouth, but couldn't manage eye contact and averted his gaze. He was feeling too many things and looking at her didn't help. He was legitimately worried that he was just going to rush to impulsively kiss her if he stared at her for too long.

"I love it," he said quietly. He was briefly worried that his low volume didn't make it sound sincere, but she was beaming immediately. "Thank you _so much,_ Marinette."

"Thank _you,_ " she whispered in return. She stepped closer, her hands coming up to rest upon his. "It's not a thank you gift - I felt like that'd make it seem too obligatory? - but still. You do a lot for me."

"I—"

Her fingers went up to stop him from speaking. She pouted at him. "And I don't want to hear about how you've _done nothing_ and that's it's been _all me,_ or how it's no big deal because you're just being yourself and it's easy to do that because _w-whatever nice things you were about to say to me,_ okay?"

He nodded. His mouth was still covered, but his soft gaze hopefully got through his feelings in the moment.

Her fingers moving away from his lips, she smiled. "I just... feel really lucky to have you and I wanted to make this for you."

"Thank you," he repeated, now less for the book and more just for _her._ "I'll cherish it."

"I know you will." Though the sentence was confident, her voice was filled with the elated notes of someone whose hopes had been confirmed.

They didn't say anything else for a moment. He was still on an emotional high while Marinette seemed thoughtful.

Her eyes went to him, then his hands. One of her hands was still over his own, her fingers sliding steadily along the back of said hand. Her lips pursed, one brow lowered as she seemed to consider something.

"...Luka—"

" _Dinner's almost ready!_ "

The trap door swung open, Marinette leaping up and clutching her chest in shock as Tom and Sabine popped in. Luka knew they hadn't been doing anything strange, but the moment itself felt so intimate that he stiffened, almost embarrassed.

"Oh! Luka?" Tom asked. "You're still here? We must've forgotten about you!"

"Sorry if we startled you at all," Sabine said, completely and deceptively innocent. "Would you like to join us for dinner, as an apology?"

Calming himself, Luka carefully closed the book and hugged it to his chest with one arm. It seemed rude to refuse their offer - they were so obviously doing this on purpose - but he wasn't just going to _agree_ either.

He turned to Marinette, about to ask if it'd be okay, only to be surprised when she seemed less _horrified_ by their intrusion and more... _offended?_ Her face was turned away, her cheeks were pink, and she was pouting.

Leaning in, he whispered so as not to be heard by her parents. "Marinette?"

She met his gaze, pouting more and nearly sulking. Under her breath, she replied with a huff, "T-that... that's what _I_ was going to ask ."

He gaped, then couldn't help breaking into a happy flustered chuckle. _This entire family was going to kill him and he welcomed it._

Standing straight, Luka walked past Marinette to place his gift on the table, then turned to Tom and Sabine with a smile.

"I'd be happy to."


	8. Gone Like Dinner

Luka never had any sort of "fancy dinner experience," so seeing Tom and Sabine run around excitedly to prepare one was very new to him. His mother wasn't the type to follow any sort of schedule or pattern, which inevitably rubbed off on him and Juleka (for better or worse). Eating was something they just _did,_ not something they _planned for,_ often leading to any of them grabbing anything at any time so long as they were hungry.

It made him feel weirdly spoiled to have anything close to a "normal" family dinner. Having Marinette be part of the equation didn't help him feel otherwise, nor the way Tom and Sabine stared at him from across the table like they were his biggest fans.

He'd barely taken his first bite before Tom dropped his forearm casually onto the table and asked, " _So,_ Luka, how's having our daughter in your class?"

" _Papa!_ " Marinette rushed to scold him, mouth half-full as she pouted at Tom from across the table.

Luka chuckled, swallowing his bite of food before answering. He'd honestly expected something like this; after all, he was a boy spending a lot of one-on-one time with a girl, so suspicion - or excitement apparently, in Tom's case - was to be expected.

"It's alright," he assured Marinette. She gave him a confused look, but he merely turned his focus to Tom. "Marinette sits next to me in class. It's great."

"She sits next to you?" Sabine inquired, seemingly intrigued.

Marinette piped up, "Luka's a _very_ good student and he doesn't get into trouble. The teacher thought it'd be best if I sit next to someone like him, and he was right."

She almost looked proud of that and Luka hid his smile behind his hand.

Tom picked up one of the rolls off to the side, offering it to Luka as he asked, "And you're in a band? You were here before Marinette skipped grades, weren't you?"

Luka nodded, taking the roll gratefully. "I play guitar for Kitty Section."

"He's _really talented,_ Papa," Marinette cut in tersely. "He's _going places,_ even if the rest of the band decides to quit."

Tom let out a laugh, waving at her dismissively. "I know, I know. We trust you."

Luka looked back and forth between the two, needing a moment to understand exactly what had just transpired. He'd spent so much of his life around his music-enthused mother that it hadn't occurred to him that people would question the life of a musician.

...Well, not to mention that Tom's wording made it seem largely like Luka himself was already dating Marinette, which had briefly thrown him off. Actually, Marinette's wording kind of implied that too and—

Luka nearly shoved the roll into his mouth to force himself not to think about it, only to then be blindsided by how _good_ the bread was. He let out a pleased hum and Tom and Sabine's grins assured him that they got the message.

Sabine took a bite of her food, looking Luka up and down before asking, "You're passionate, right?"

"Yes, _very,_ " Luka assured. A moment then passed, with him trying not to let the realization show on his face that Sabine had meant _music_ and not _his relationship with Marinette_ when he'd been thinking about the latter just a few seconds ago.

At least his answer would've been the same regardless.

"See? That's the kind of spirit we like!" Tom exclaimed, throwing his hands up. When they enthusiastically slammed back down on the table, Luka saw his plate shake from the force. "Us Dupain and Chengs are all passionate about what we do! Why, the very start of our bakery was _built_ on it, and—"

Luka welcomed the change in topic, nodding along as Tom rambled. It was clear who Marinette had gotten it from and Luka liked seeing how strongly people felt about the things they enjoyed. He supposed it was because the people he grew up with felt strongly about things in general, even if Juleka felt those things more internally.

The rest of dinner was spent in idle conversation, Luka answering the occasional probing question from either of Marinette's parents. He had nothing to hide and felt it important for them to know and trust him regardless of how close he was to Marinette. He'd already expected the food itself to be beyond what he was used to, given that he was dealing with bakers, but he was more thankful that the atmosphere they gave off - as weirdly overwhelming as it was - didn't make him feel judged or unwelcome.

All four of them were in the middle of cleaning up the plates, glasses, and cutlery when a sudden crack of thunder startled them. Luka glanced over at the window, seeing the raindrops that had gone unnoticed until now. He was surprised that such a storm would—

...Oh. He hadn't thought that his mother had meant it _literally_ when she was talking about a storm. Or—maybe she _didn't_ and it was just coincidence?

He was jarred out of his thoughts as Sabine took everything in his hands, stacking it on top of what she was already carrying. She frowned at the window, observing, "That would be _dreadful_ to walk home in."

Luka managed a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about me. I've done it before, and rain isn't—"

"You can't do that!" Tom protested. "You're going to make these two meddlers feel _guilty_ if you go running out in the middle of a storm!"

Huh. So they were at least _admitting_ to their meddling.

Sabine sighed, turning away to head to the sink. "We're sorry about this, Luka. Will you stay for the night?"

"Maman," Marinette interrupted, passing over the dishes she was carrying to Tom, "please don't pressure Luka into staying if he doesn't want to."

"We wouldn't want to pressure him into _anything!_ " Tom insisted.

Marinette gave him a flat look and vaguely gestured to the plates. He proceeded to ignore her.

"We're worried about him catching a cold out there! Who will sit next to you in class if he's not there?" he asked with dramatic flair.

"Papa—!" Marinette cut herself off with a huff, apparently resigning herself on the matter.

Luka chuckled. "I'd love to stay. It wouldn't be any trouble?"

"Not at all!" Sabine replied. "You'll just need a place to sleep!"

Once she'd gotten everything into the sink, she turned to Tom with an urgent look, the two seeming to communicate wordlessly before racing off together. Marinette must've noticed Luka's confusion at it, what with how she abruptly explained, "We have spare pillows and blankets for stuff like this. They're probably going to get them."

Then, with a sigh, she added, "I really _am_ sorry about them."

"It just means that they like me," he replied, "so I'm happy."

"Really? _Wait—_ " She squinted. "Did you think you'd say something that'd make them _not_ like you?"

He shook his head, though amused at how shocked she seemed by the concept. "They're really open, like my mom is, and they trust you and who you pick out for friends, right?"

"Yeah. Well, a lot more _now,_ especially." She paused, thoughtful. "Are you really okay with staying? I-I know you have your hood that could've protected you in the rain."

"Why would I mind being here with you?" he asked in reply, enjoying the way her cheeks tinted pink. "And I wouldn't want your parents to feel bad. They were the ones who asked me to stay for dinner in the first place."

The talk of family reminded him of Juleka. Pulling his phone out, he went straight for his contacts so he could text her to let her know that he wouldn't be coming home that day, remaining short on the details as she probably didn't want to hear anything extensive about Marinette at the moment.

Just as he'd slipped his phone back into his pocket, Tom and Sabine came barreling through the door like a pair of superheroes, arms full of pillows and blankets. Had Luka not been so skilled with sounds, he might've mistaken the slamming of the door for another crack of thunder.

" _Marinette!_ " Tom shouted urgently. "The couch!"

Marinette jerked up, pointing to herself. "Wha—the couch? _...Oh!_ "

Luka had to step back as she rushed past him, the family of three seeming to be in sync as they began sorting various blankets and pillows onto the couch. He almost felt overwhelmed trying to watch all of their movements; Tom was unfolding and laying out the blankets, Sabine was efficiently fluffing out the pillows, and Marinette apparently had a problem with the appearance, insisting that one color had to go above the other and that any level of comfort worked better that way anyway.

"Luka," Sabine called out, stopping mid-fluff to glance up at him, "how do you like to sleep?"

He blinked at her cluelessly, having never thought of alternative sleeping positions in his life.

Seeing that she wasn't getting an answer, Sabine turned her gaze to Marinette instead. "He said he plays guitar, right?"

Marinette nodded.

"...Back support then," Sabine concluded, Luka feeling somewhat called out as she adjusted the pillows accordingly.

He was left awkwardly standing there, simply observing as the three finished what they'd defined as "the perfect bed." He couldn't lie, it _did_ look really perfect, and now he was left feeling spoiled again.

"Alright!" Marinette shouted the second they were done, making gestures at her parents. "Now, _both of you,_ shoo!"

Even though it wasn't late enough to exactly _sleep,_ the two relented, probably still feeling bad about making Luka stay longer even if they couldn't have known about the weather. They both gave Marinette a simultaneous cheek kiss on opposite sides of her face, then patted Luka on the back on their way out.

It was strange how they'd patted him with the exact same pressure despite their height difference. Luka supposed that they were just _that_ in sync.

When he looked back at Marinette, she was still making tiny adjustments to his bed, her inner organizer somehow not satisfied until everything was perfectly aligned. He approached and admired her, particularly how adorable her focused face was. Though he knew it'd be pointless to try and tell her, he nonetheless insisted, "You don't have to go through all this effort for me."

"What if I want to?" she challenged with a smile, not looking at him due to being preoccupied with the bed.

He feigned a sigh. "Then I guess I have no choice but to take it."

She hummed smugly, in the process of smoothing out the blankets as she asked, "So, Luka, what do you want for breakfast in the morning?"

He wasn't expecting the question. "What?"

"I'm sure Maman's going to ask me about it, or she'll just ask _you_ if I tell her that I don't know," she explained. "What do you like?"

"Oh, I'm not picky," he assured, "and I don't need anything anyway. I don't usually have breakfast."

Marinette stopped mid-smoothing, her head darting up and staring at nothing. Finally, she made eye contact, even gaping at him. "You don't? B-but it's _important!_ "

He grew apologetic under the intensity of her gaze, resorting to looking at the wall. "I used to make it for Jule when we were younger, but we stopped once she started feeling like I was playing too many of her notes for her." He shrugged, showing that he wasn't bothered by Juleka's choice. "Besides, I like taking my time walking to school."

"...Oh."

Her tone worried him. He looked back, confirming that she seemed discouraged. "Marinette—"

" _That's okay!_ " she cut in, standing and holding her hands up. She clearly realized that she'd been showing too much emotion and he'd caught onto it. "I'm just so used to it _here_ but it's fine if that's not what _you're_ used to! I know my parents can be a lot and I don't really help and I wasn't thinking of you at all—"

He reached up, grabbing her hands and gently saying, "Marinette, stop."

She halted mid-sentence, her mouth still hanging open as she stared at him.

"It's... you're right, it _is_ a lot, but not in a way that's distorting my sound," he corrected.

She tilted her head in response, not understanding what he meant.

He struggled to find the words. "Things are so much different on the Liberty. We all love each other but I'm the most physical one there. My mom's okay with whatever we want to do and Jule doesn't think of me as someone to worry about - neither do my friends - so I'm not used to people checking on me."

"Y-you mean _fretting_ over you," Marinette gently cut in with a pout.

He squeezed her hands. "There's nothing wrong with that."

"But..." She sighed, staring at the floor. "s-still, you shouldn't have to worry about what I said. I was just... fantasizing about having breakfast with you without thinking about what _you'd_ want. I know that your lifestyle doesn't match up with mine."

He smiled softly, bending over to be more level with her. "If it's you, I'd like to get used to it."

She looked at him questioningly, but he could see the glimmer of hope in her eyes now.

"It's how you show that you care, and I _want_ to get used to being fretted over, especially if it's _you_ doing it."

Her brows rose in surprise. She looked away sheepishly, but he gave her however much time she needed to respond, noting that she wasn't feeling anything negative.

"...How—" She peeked up at him, though not turning her head fully to face him. "How about a compromise?"

"Hm?"

"I can make something for you—for _us?_ " She pulled her hands out of his just so she could grab his hands in return, rotating them so his palms were facing upwards. "Something portable? And then we can walk to school together and eat at the same time. We can still take our time but you get to eat too."

He considered telling her that the Liberty was farther away than the bakery from their school, but he imagined that she already knew that. Plus, his heart was focused on something else.

"You'd make breakfast for me?"

"Of course!" she exclaimed, as if it were obvious. "I can't let my parents outdo me all the time!"

He tried to contain it, but the laughter was too hard to hold in. He hunched over in his giggling fit, only glancing up at her to ensure that she wasn't taking it the wrong way.

Thankfully, she was smiling at him, thoroughly amused.

Even after he'd managed to compose himself, the warm, bubbly feeling wouldn't leave him. "You're an extraordinary girl, Marinette."

Her smile widened. She pulled his hands to her chest, clasping them in her own. "Clear as a music note, sincere as a melody?"

His gaze softened, his heart skipping a beat that she'd remembered what he'd said so _exactly._ "The song that's been stuck in my head since the day that we met."

The blush that had started small bloomed further to that happy red color he loved so dearly. She took a breath, dropping his hands and fiddling with the corners of her jacket.

"And...if the breakfast thing works out," she began, "if you wouldn't mind stopping by the bakery on your way to school—"

" _I wouldn't,_ " he immediately reassured.

"—then we could do it all the time?" she asked hopefully. "Walking to school together and eating breakfast?"

He chuckled. "You call it a compromise, Marinette, but I just feel spoiled right now."

She stared at the floor, shrugging shyly. "B-but it's still even at least?"

He let out a confused hum, sure that she heard it by the way her gaze flicked up to him.

She raised her head back up, actually daring to _wink_ at him. "Because I feel spoiled with you too!"

He opened his mouth to respond, but his words left him. It apparently wouldn't have mattered if he'd had anything to say anyway, as Marinette suddenly got even redder than before.

"A-AH, _ANYWAY,_ I need to get ready for bed, it's late!"

It was absolutely _not_ late, but Luka didn't stop her from rushing past him to head up the stairs. He knew very well that they were both probably feeling too much to have a proper conversation.

After she'd shut the trapdoor, he could vaguely hear her shouting - panicked but happy - to her kwami about how she "couldn't believe she just did that."

As for himself, he was already taking off his hoodie and jacket combo, the room spontaneously feeling too warm. He threw it to the side of the couch that was devoid of blankets, then sunk down onto his bed.

That was definitely flirting; it was the most blatant she'd ever flirted with him. Her wink wasn't even perfect but—

He buried his face in his hands, feeling the heat of his own blush against his palms. He needed to rethink his approach with her before she caught him off-guard again.

Not that he technically _minded,_ but still.


	9. Breakfast the Point of No Return

Luka stirred to the sound of idle conversation and the smell of breakfast being cooked. He rolled onto his side, enjoying the comfort of the couch-turned-bed, but still let out a groan at his own grogginess.

The idle conversation ceased at the simple noise.

"A-ah—!" Marinette's voice rang out, only for her to clam up a moment later.

He opened his eyes, turning his head towards her as he sat up.

She buried her face into her hands and whined. "I really _did_ wake you! I'm sorry, Luka!" She paused, then peeked out from between her fingers, greeting him awkwardly, "Um... good morning, by the way."

"Good morning, and don't worry. Even if you _did_ wake me up," he began, knowing that he couldn't be sure if he'd woken up normally or not, "this was the best thing that I could've woken up to."

He enjoyed the way her face heated up at the comment. Maybe it was the fact that he'd just gotten up, but he supposed it _was_ more bold than his usual.

Sabine, who Luka only just now noticed was there, greeted him as well. "Good morning. Marinette and I were just talking about you and how she wanted your breakfast to be perfect for you."

"I-I didn't say that!" Marinette argued. "...Even if it's true!"

She turned away from Sabine's amused expression and glanced at him, embarrassed. He simply smiled at her, reassuring her without words that everything was fine. She smiled sheepishly back at him.

Then, his eyes wandered downwards, and he realized that she hadn't changed into her normal clothes. _She was still in her pajamas._

Marinette's eyes drifted on him as well, probably noting the lack of his hoodie+jacket combo. Her eyebrows rose, at which point she looked down at herself and noticed what he already had.

Her head jerked up. " _I-I'm going to change!_ " she shouted, dashing away for the stairs while hugging herself as some form of cover.

Luka muffled his chuckle with a hand - hopefully it hid his blush too - then slipped his blanket off and got up from the couch. He approached Sabine, now able to see what sort of breakfast she was preparing, and it was close enough to pick up the separate scent of a completely different breakfast. Glancing towards the second aroma, he noted what he presumed to be his and Marinette's breakfast, though it was impossible to tell what it was due to how heavily wrapped up they were. He guessed it was to help keep in the heat.

"She never wakes up this early, you know," Sabine commented.

Luka made eye contact with her, having almost missed what she'd told him due to being distracted by what Marinette had prepared.

"She doesn't usually have a boy over, much less one that she's so comfortable around," she continued. "So, thank you. You're good for her."

_He's good for her._

Luka knew (or at least figured) that it didn't mean what he hoped it did, but it nonetheless made him happy to hear that Sabine could tell that he had an effect on her. He'd always seemed to exude an aura of calm that made it easier for people to relax around him, but he was always surprised when it extended to someone as excitable as Marinette.

Last night was still fresh in his memory. He could spin it however he wanted and think that she didn't realize it in the moment, but Marinette had _definitely_ been flirting with him; the wink had made it obvious if nothing else. She had also almost _definitely_ been checking out his usually-covered arms just a minute ago before she'd dashed into her room, which stroked his ego _far_ more than normal since her first crush had been an actual _model,_ made to look good at all times.

He couldn't deny that they were close. He couldn't deny that her parents seemed to like him. He couldn't deny that his desire to be with her romantically was starting to drown out his attempt to convince himself that Marinette didn't feel for him in the way he dreamed of but never hoped for.

Claudine's voice did an encore in his head. _"A good song will never come together if you don't try."_

Luka stared ahead at nothing, deep in thought. "...Mrs. Cheng—"

"You have our permission to date our daughter."

He was so tired that he needed a moment to replay the last few seconds in his head and realize that he hadn't finished what he'd been going to say. Given that, he could only glance at her, letting out a very coherent and well thought out, "I do?"

Sabine was looking back down at her pan like she hadn't just granted him access to Marinette's lips. "We see perfectly well how you feel about Marinette, and Tom would _not_ stop talking about you when we went off to our room last night. We were worried about Marinette adjusting from being away from—" She stopped short of saying 'her friends' and opted for, "— _everyone_ in her old class, but she's been doing much better than we thought. We... haven't _always_ given her the credit she deserves, and while a lot of it was just _her,_ she made it very clear that you've helped. We don't have any reason not to trust you with her."

Luka was positive his face must've looked absolutely _stupid,_ being some sort of mix between confused and pleasantly surprised. He was also more awake than any amount of caffeine would've made him.

Sabine, still not looking at him, let out a small giggle. Completely changing the subject before he could reply, she asked, "Do you have a backpack or anything you need to get from your home before you head to school, or are you planning on getting it on the way?"

He blinked, finally closing his mouth as he processed that. Moving for once in the past minute or so, he took a step back and gave her an acknowledging look. "Ah—thank you."

He supposed he could've been thanking her for any number of things, but didn't have the brainpower to clarify on what it was. He turned quickly, but forced himself not to speed-walk to the door despite a desperate need to get his mind working again.

While passing the stairs, he added, "I'll head to my house and get my backpack while Marinette is getting—"

Marinette's voice suddenly rang out from her room, " _W-wait! Wait, I'll come too!_ "

He looked up, Marinette opening the trapdoor with her jacket only half on and her backpack's top strap in her hand. She scrambled to slip her arm through the remaining sleeve and put on the backpack itself as she rushed down the stairs to stand next to him.

"You don't have t—"

"—I know!" she cut him off, apparently expecting his reassurances now. "But... it's okay, right? I can?"

He nodded, giving her a warm smile. "Of course."

She beamed at him, then gasped, turning and rushing for the counter. "Oh! Let me get our breakfast first!"

She picked up the two wrapped breakfasts, observing the wrapping with a critical look to ensure it was right. He smiled, admiring her energy, then turned away and headed straight for the door. He opened it quietly so as to not disturb her concentration, standing off to the side and simply waiting for her.

She returned to him happily, a grateful look on her face as she led the way downstairs. He pretended not to see Sabine's knowing look before he closed the door behind him.

"I never thought I'd be glad to _not_ have my school right next door," Marinette admitted on her way down the steps, one arm carefully hugging the wrapped breakfasts to her chest like they were something precious. "We get to go on a nice walk _and_ have breakfast together!"

Her behavior wasn't making Sabine's comments seem any less valid. He wanted to _think_ on his walk to his house and clearly that wasn't something that was going to happen.

Marinette reached the bottom of the stairs first due to the excited skip in her step. She looked back at him with a smile, blindly reaching for the door and opening it, then waited for him like he had for her.

Her not looking the other way meant that _he_ saw what - or _who_ \- was on the other side of the door before she did. "...Jule?"

Marinette's expression became confused. She glanced to the side, then jumped at the sight of Juleka standing there stiffly and looking down at the sidewalk.

Luka picked up his pace to get to them. He had no idea how long she'd been standing there, but he was sure that she'd never knocked; not because he knew he would've heard it, but because her expression told him that she hadn't had the confidence.

Even once he stood in front of her, Juleka was as still as a statue. It's why Marinette was all the more jumpy when Juleka's arm suddenly thrust outward, Luka's backpack in hand.

 _Ah._ So _that_ was her excuse for showing up.

Eager to break the silence, he took it with a grateful, "Thanks."

" _Mm,_ " she let out.

It wasn't a word, but he hadn't expected one.

Juleka's eyes flickered to Marinette, who was still standing confused by the door. Juleka simply turned away, taking two steps before stopping. She didn't glance back at them, but her head was partway to doing so, making her current expression a mystery to Marinette's eyes.

" _...Sorry,_ " she finally murmured, not waiting for a reply as she continued walking.

Marinette tilted her head, then glanced at Luka. He put his backpack on and met her gaze with his own, though didn't say anything because he could see the metaphorical gears turning in her head.

A thoughtful expression replaced her confused one as they walked outside together.

* * *

"You'd still be okay doing work for Kitty Section?" Luka asked, surprised that she'd actually brought it up without him having to ask.

Staring up at the sky, Marinette replied, "Yeah," then repeated with more confidence, "Yeah, _definitely._ I didn't want to cut _everyone_ off, and even though I was hurt, I'm willing to be friends with at _least_ the rest of Kitty Section again, as long as they're okay talking about it. Besides..." She looked down at the breakfasts still held against her chest, then grabbed the larger one and held it out to him with a fond smile. "I really hated the idea that your sister wouldn't want to get along with me when we're so close. I know she's not like that, but still."

Normally, he would've immediately banished any implications he could've taken from her saying something like that, but this time, he let the notes settle on the song sheet with all the others. He took his breakfast from her hand, giving his second, _"Thank you,"_ that day that could've been taken in any number of ways.

Marinette fiddled with the wrapping on her own breakfast, Luka watching to know the best way to unwrap the top but looking away before she'd done it fully. It felt like he'd be spoiling himself on what his own breakfast would look like otherwise.

He copied what he'd seen, undoing the top of the wrapping as the scent of baked _goodness_ hit his nose. At first glance, it seemed like a crispy ellipsoid-shaped bread that was large but small enough to hold properly with one hand. It was clearly seasoned, perhaps lightly buttered, and the feel of it made it obvious that it was filled.

He took a bite before he could start embarrassingly salivating in front of Marinette; however, it proved to be a poor decision, as it was so _delicious_ that he let out a noise even more embarrassing than that. Marinette must've heard of too from the muffled squeak he'd heard afterwards.

He straightened, blushing but nonetheless savoring the bite in his mouth. There was no way he was going to swallow like he was trying to get it over with, even if Marinette knew that wasn't the case. He dared a glance at her, seeing her curious gaze.

After the bite went down his throat, he groaned. "Sorry. It's... _really_ good."

"O-oh, no, I-I'm glad!" she assured. "I ran the recipe by my mom and dad a bunch of times and made sure all the flavors lined up, and that it was still healthy enough and I made a smaller third one just to taste and make sure it worked!"

"It _shows._ " He took another bite, managing to suppress any noises this time. The now-visible inside of his breakfast was a myriad of colors that _looked_ as good as it _tasted._

How much work had she gone through in one morning to make everything as perfect as she could?

Once he swallowed, something occurred to him and he looked at her with concern. "Were you up that early to do all of that for me? Of course I'd love to do this with you more, but wouldn't you have to get up that early every day for us to do this?"

" _No!_ " she insisted, seeming horrified that she'd worried him at all. "I mean—yes to the first question, sort of, _technically_ I was doing it for _us_ —but no on that second one! I can make things in advance and freeze them if I have to! I won't lose sleep or anything, I wouldn't want to do anything to worry you, Luka!"

He felt relieved, but gently pointed out, "I want you to sleep well because you care about your health, Marinette, not because you think it'll worry me."

She blushed, her pout telling him that she knew he was right. Still, only a moment passed before she grinned teasingly and asked, "So you wouldn't worry about me?"

He snorted, grinning in return. "I'd worry a lot. I wouldn't be able to hit a single note on my guitar."

She beamed, her walk getting an extra bounce from his words. He was tempted to keep teasing her - to tell her that she looked really happy to hear about him not being able to play his guitar properly - but he quite liked the sound of her bouncy footsteps.

Thus, they walked in silence for a while. Luka considered it to be for the best; if they kept teasing each other, they'd never finish their breakfast that Marinette had so painstakingly made.

He somehow managed to eat the rest of his food without making any more noises that would've made it seem like he'd been eating terrible food all his life. He ate decently, really, but Marinette's food was just _that_ good in comparison and he couldn't believe she wanted to go out of her way to do this for him every day they went to school together.

Just as he was looking around for a garbage can to discard his wrapper, the wrapper itself was snatched out of his hand. He glanced over at Marinette, seeing that she had the top strap of her backpack in her mouth. With both wrappers in one hand, she went to open the front pocket with the other.

Luka drew closer to her, brows furrowed. "You don't have to keep them in your backpack, Marinette," he told her. The wrappers were definitely _not_ clean, as he could see crumbs and the darkened areas of the wrapper where hints of the butter had rubbed off.

Marinette ignored him. He first thought that it was just due to her mouth being occupied, but then she triumphantly retrieved a ziplock bag from the pocket and Luka's mind clicked with an acknowledging _oh._

She slipped the wrappers inside, then stored the bag inside the pocket and zipped the pocket back up. Returning the backpack to her back, she gave him a beaming smile. "Thanks."

He blinked. Placing a dramatic hand to his chest, he asked playfully, "You're thanking _me,_ Marinette? I haven't done anything but eat your amazing food."

She gently poked his arm, then returned the backpack to her back. "You know what I mean. It's nice not walking alone, and you didn't even complain last night when my parents were—" She made a vague gesture between the two of them. "— _you know._ "

He chuckled, waving dismissively at her. "I don't mind your parents. They were really nice," he assured.

"I know, but—" She pouted adorably. "— _I_ still wanted to be the one to ask you to stay for dinner!"

It amused him that she had remained upset about that. "I stayed anyway at least, right?"

Sighing, she threw her hands up. "I _guess!_ It's just..." She paused, arms dropping back down.

He felt her hand come in contact with his own, looking down to see the backs of her fingers touching his. He looked back up to see that she was eyeing his face, as if checking for something. Whatever it was, she apparently found it, her fingers moving to slide properly to the other side of his hand so she could clutch it.

"I got tired of other people forcing me and trying to work things out to make sure it was how _they_ wanted." Smiling warmly, she added, "If I get to spend time with you, I don't want it to be because of someone else. I want it to be _our_ choice."

He couldn't form a response, though she apparently didn't expect one with the way she looked away from him and focused on where they were walking. He glanced at their hands again, Marinette's grip gentle but with no intent on letting go.

He couldn't help reflecting. Every amount of romance knowledge he'd ever received (courtesy of Rose's excited ramblings) told him that the circumstances were more than appropriate for things to advance, and if he turned off the part of him that kept insisting that Marinette's actions could be interpreted in any way, it really _did_ seem like she was dropping every hint possible that this was _so much more_ than friendship. He'd have to be incredibly dense to suggest otherwise.

Suddenly, he felt _bad,_ realizing how much had happened without his involvement. He took time to watch over and comfort her, certainly, but she was on another level.

 _She'd_ been the one to suggest the "study date date." _She'd_ be the one to give him a gift. _She'd_ been the one to suggest walking to school and eating together.

And now, she was the one who initiated them holding hands.

Even outside of her, his friends had been the ones to prepare accordingly and give them alone time, while Tom and Sabine practically treated them like they were already dating. Luka had always been of the belief that Marinette should set the pace of their relationship, but where was the line between letting her comfortably make choices, and making her _work_ for it despite him doing nothing outside of reciprocating her gestures?

She deserved _better_ than having to do all the work. It'd never been fair to her to have to make all of the decisions, and she'd been doing all the work seemingly her entire life.

He knew - better than everyone else - exactly how much she'd been working, for both herself _and_ the rest of Paris.

"Luka?"

He was jerked out of his train of thought by Marinette's voice. She had slowed their walk and was looking at him worriedly, her frown lopsided in thought.

"Is everything okay? You look like you're thinking too hard." Though her brows were still furrowed, she smiled and tried to joke, "That's _my_ job."

His expression softened, mostly out of its natural reaction to her. "It's alright," he assured.

Making a decision for himself, he stopped in his tracks, still holding onto Marinette's hand. She stopped as well, looking at their hands and then to him.

"Luka—" she began, but cut herself short. Whatever emotions he was showing must've given something away, as her mouth remained slightly open in curiosity, her eyes never leaving his.

"Marinette." He took a breath. "...Do you want to go on a date with me?"

Her mouth opened wider, a small noise coming out but forming no words.

"A _real_ date," he clarified. He then continued, almost hastily, "There's no pressure, and it can be _wherever_ and _whenever_ you want. I just want to date you, as long as _you_ want that too."

She was still, but he was more than willing to wait for her response. They'd already left early thanks to Juleka, so they had plenty of time.

Not that he would've minded being late if it was for Marinette's sake anyway.

Finally, Marinette blinked, then blinked again, this time rapidly. Her posture relaxed and she started breathing again. "...Yes."

His heart skipped a beat. She stepped closer to him, letting go of his hand so she could put both hands firmly on his shoulders and repeat seriously, " _Yes._ " Growing excited, she leaped forward and squealed, throwing her arms around him in a tight but comfortable hug. "Oh my gosh, _yes!_ "

He didn't stagger at her weight being thrown at him, but he might as well have. He felt like he'd been knocked over, all his breath leaving his lungs.

He _loved_ it.

He returned the hug with just as much enthusiasm, giving her a loving squeeze. She let out a happy noise, nuzzling into him and making him realize how warm she was. He knew immediately that he wouldn't have to explain to his friends what had happened since the last time they saw him.

"... _Oh!_ " Marinette gasped, pulling away from him. "Wait! I don't even know where we could go! I'd have to _think_ —and _plan_ —and figure out what the best time would be—"

He cut her off with a laugh. "I can wait. You can text me whenever you figure it out."

"I will!" she said resolutely. She then turned and placed one hand on the lower half of her face, looking deep in thought as she blindly reached back for his hand. He let her take it, fully willing to be dragged to school with her if she so desired.

He was so lost in the sound of his own heart pounding in his ears that he almost missed her whispering to herself.

" _And I'll be there._ " There was a shake to it, but the resolve was apparent in her voice.

"I... I'll _definitely_ be there."


	10. Turn of Date

She wasn't there.

Luka had agreed to meet with Marinette at the Trocadéro. She'd often gone there for inspiration and was hoping that, with both of them there together, they could eat lunch and feed off of each other's creative energies. She'd done extensive research to make sure that they'd be picking a time where they could be at least _relatively_ alone, except she hadn't shown up yet.

The worst part was that he knew exactly why. A single glance at his phone revealed that there was an akuma running about, Ladybug and Chat Noir already at the scene to deal with them. Even with the small screen size, Luka could tell that Ladybug was upset, though the average viewer wouldn't be able to notice it. It was the subtle difference in her movements - the lack of sound she was making as she kept it all in - that made it obvious for him.

Worse still was that he wouldn't be able to make it there. The attack was practically on the opposite side of Paris and he'd never get there in time; even if he _somehow_ did, he'd be completely out of breath by the time he ran back to where Marinette would be waiting for him. Of course, Ladybug would at least know where he was if he was needed now, but it was the feeling of _helplessness_ that bothered him; the _awareness_ that he couldn't even be nearby if something happened. He was dating her, and he couldn't do anything except wait, far away from where she was.

He clutched his phone tight, trying to suppress every negative emotion building in his system. He already knew that Marinette's life was unfair, but _this?_ An akuma striking when she was supposed to be going on her first date? Was the universe _really_ that cruel?

He found a place to sit down, hurriedly removing the case from his back and pulling out his guitar. He needed to get this energy out of his system before Marinette came back or risk her thinking that he was mad at her.

Because he _wasn't._ How could he be? If anything, he was ready to go find Hawk Moth himself and smash a guitar over his head, _repeatedly._

...Okay, yeah, he _really_ needed to play.

Setting the phone to his side, still tuned to the news broadcast of the akuma, Luka took a breath and started strumming his guitar. He didn't bother warming up either, simply playing everything his heart was dying to say. A few people occasionally stopped to look or listen, and part of him imagined that his reputation as the "calm, cool, and collected" type would've been ruined had any of them known him previously.

He forced himself not to look at his phone's screen every five seconds. It would only rile him further and it wouldn't do him any good. He wanted to know what was going on, but not so much that it’d add more negativity to the melody he was playing.

It was around the tenth time he'd looked over - his self-control wasn't as on point as he'd wanted - when he noticed that Ladybug had left the battle. He stopped strumming, reaching out to snatch up his phone and watch what was happening. He just managed to catch the reporter talking about how Ladybug had rushed off, and he knew what that meant.

She was off to grab a miraculous.

He straightened, leaning slightly on his guitar as he watched the footage in anticipation. Drumming his fingers on the guitar's base, he waited, giving an occasional glance at the sky to see if Ladybug might show up.

She didn't, and he was watching the screen carefully as she returned to the battle after a few minutes. Strangely enough though, she hadn't brought _anyone._ It was just _her;_ her and her red and black suit, now complete with the extra layers of teal and scales.

His eyes widened.

She'd chosen to use the snake herself. Part of Luka felt like he should be happy - he would've been hurt to see a different snake even if he knew he shouldn't - but he knew exactly what it meant for her.

She felt _guilty._ She felt terrible for missing their date and couldn't bring herself to come get him, all over something she couldn't help. He wanted to scold her, but knew he wouldn’t have it in him even if she knew that _he_ knew.

He saw the gentle flick of Second Chance, each action of hers afterward carefully calculated as she weaved around the akuma and shouted warnings to Chat. Luka wasn't sure exactly how many times she'd had to reset, but the stress in her movements sung volumes to him.

With how focused he was watching, he didn't notice how hard he was gripping his phone until his hand started aching. He blinked a few times, his eyes dry, then set the phone aside so he wouldn't be so caught up in the action.

Finally, he looked down at his guitar, debating with himself momentarily before practically shoving it into its case and slipping said case onto his back.

For once, playing wouldn't do him any good.

* * *

Once the battle was officially over, Luka let the screen on his phone go dark. He was _beyond_ relieved that Marinette had still managed to succeed despite not having him as the snake, though now that left the problem of her actually showing up to the date. He knew she'd come - she wouldn't avoid him under these circumstances - but he still had to figure out what to say. Maybe he could side-mention watching the news and comment about it?

...No, she was too smart for that. She'd see right through him.

He'd heard her footsteps before he actually saw her, as he’d been staring thoughtfully down at the ground for the past couple of minutes. He looked up to her, his heart breaking at her expression.

She was near tears, carrying a small plain box that he presumed was their lunch. She wouldn't make eye contact with him, her sad eyes focusing on literally anything else.

He took a breath, then stood, walking over to her. Giving her a reassuring look, even if she couldn't see it, he gently took the lunch from her with one hand. She was only able to burst out, "I'm sor—" before he placed two fingers on her lips with his other hand.

"You don't have anything to apologize for," he insisted. He looked around, noticing that there were still people lingering around the area. Taking Marinette's hand in his own, he started leading her away to somewhere more private.

"But I-I was late," Marinette reminded him, voice riddled with guilt.

He waited until they were hidden from everyone to reply, putting his guitar case down and the box on top of it in case she needed to hug him. "No you weren't." Managing a smile, he tried to joke, "I let _you_ set the time, remember? So our date starts now if you say so."

Her mouth twitched, nearing a half-smile, but she shook her head and maintained her serious face. "Y-you were still waiting for me. I'm...I'm so irresponsible."

"Things happen," he said simply. "I don't expect you to be perfect, Marinette. I know you got hung up and I know it wasn't your fault. The date isn't—"

" _I don't mean the date,_ " she interrupted quietly. She met his gaze for a moment, then looked away, brows furrowing in worry. "I-I mean _us..._ "

"Us?" he echoed, trying not to show too much in his reaction.

"Yeah." She covered her face with her hands, letting out a groan. "It... I _knew_ that stuff like this was going to happen and I just _did it anyway,_ with the _study date date_ and the _one-on-one time_ and the _flirting._ I-it was already one thing for us to be really good friends and that was fine but y-you deserve better than a girlfriend who won't be able to show up on time."

Luka opened his mouth, then closed it, having been given too much information to process at once. He knew it was stupid of him to feel all fuzzy inside at her acknowledging her flirting as intentional when they were _already on a date,_ but—

 _girlfriend._ She'd said _"girlfriend."_

"Do I... make you that happy, Marinette?" he finally asked.

She looked up at him, at least for more than one second this time, and tilted her head. "W-what? I—" She realized what he was referring to, but still seemed thrown off. "—ah, of course? But—I'm—"

He frowned. "Who told you that you couldn't be happy?"

She blinked rapidly at him, but he kept his gaze firm. He was sure he looked calm on the outside, but he was actually having an internal debate with himself.

She wasn't just ready to _date_ him; she was ready to _be_ with him. Already, that was throwing him for a loop, and he struggled to formulate a proper response amidst the silence.

After a moment of pause, Marinette seemed to find her voice again. "N-no one? I...I just—"

"I know."

Her brows soared, lips pursed in confusion as she stared at him.

" _I know,_ " he repeated, his hands tightening into fists as he steeled himself up. "I know that you're Ladybug."

"Wh—" Obviously caught off-guard again, she gaped at him. " _What?_ "

He continued, "I've known for a while now, and you didn't slip up to make me realize it. You can change your instrument or paint it a different color, but your song still resounds just as clearly to me, Marinette. That's why I know that it's not your fault if you're late. I know that you have a lot on your shoulders, even without the earrings, and I'm _not_ going to get upset with you for things you can't help. That's why I want you to be able to _rely_ on me, Marinette, whether you need me _or_ Viperion."

There was a flicker of recognition in her eyes at the knowledge that he saw right through what happened with her during the akuma attack.

He placed his hands firmly on her shoulders, half to reassure her and half to stabilize himself. "I know I'm not supposed to know and your identity is meant to be a secret, but I promise that I haven't told anyone and never will. Nothing bad's happened and I intend on keeping your identity as close to my heart as I keep _you._ "

She let out a breath, her overwhelmed eyes never leaving his. "L-luka..."

He tried to keep looking at her in return, but ended up breaking eye contact. He'd never intended on telling Marinette that he knew her identity, but if their relationship was going to go so deep, he couldn't bring himself to keep anything from her. He'd occasionally entertained the thought of telling her that he knew, but he never had any idea about how she might react. He loved how unpredictable she could be at times, but he'd only been Viperion every so often, and thus the rules and seriousness of being a superhero with a secret identity wasn't something he had too much experience with.

When he used to imagine admitting to her that he knew, he sometimes pictured her getting angry; not at him, but at herself. She'd pace and ramble about _how bad she messed up_ and how _Paris deserved a better Ladybug._ If she _was_ upset with him, it'd be because he kept it to himself for so long. She'd frown and sadly ask if he didn't trust her, or worry that keeping her secret was some sort of burden on him. Then, there was her potential distress in whatever consequences came with him knowing, or her feeling guilty in knowing that he might've covered for her on occasion.

Point being, it was one of the few things that left him anxious, furthering why he hadn't wanted to tell her what he knew.

She remained silent, her gaze darting around but never deviating far from him. He supposed that was better than an outright negative reaction, but the sounds of wind and chirping birds were starting to be drowned out by his own nerves.

"...Marinette," he blurted out unconsciously, not wanting to rush her but feeling his confidence dropping, "please say som—"

Without warning, she leapt at him, the rest of his sentence compressed into a soft, " _mmph,_ " as she grabbed his face and kissed him. He stumbled, nearly falling back from both _her_ pressing against him and the way she'd so _recklessly_ assaulted his heart. It pounded in his chest, his hands stiff at his sides until he remembered how to move so he could wrap his arms around her and eagerly return the kiss. She whined against him, trying to somehow pull his face closer while her fingers were tangled into his hair.

Just as his mind begged for oxygen, Marinette broke the kiss and looked down, in a similar state of breathlessness as he was.

"S...sorry," she panted, though not sounding anywhere near apologetic as before. "Just—you said all that—I was feeling a lot—and it just came out in—"

" _It's okay,_ " he whispered, voice quiet and rough at the same time.

"But—"

" _It's absolutely, definitely okay,_ " he insisted. "Only apologize if you regret kissing me, Marinette."

His heart skipped a beat when she shut her mouth in response to the request. Though she was shaking and clearly feeling too much, their kiss was something she was certain about.

He reached a hand up to her face, stroking her cheek tenderly. "Are you alright?"

"I...I think." She leaned into his touch and stared at him. "I don't know what's supposed to happen now."

He hesitated. "Will you have to get your miraculous taken away?"

"M-maybe. I'd have to ask—but..." She grabbed the wrist of the hand stroking her cheek, running her thumb along it. "It might be fine i-if it's you?"

"Because of Second Chance?" he asked.

She blushed, head tilting down as she suddenly pushed his hand away from her face, though she didn't let it go. " _N-no._ "

He said nothing, seeing that there were still words lingering in her throat. Her other hand came up, both of her hands now holding his like it was something precious to her.

She finally answered, voice full of hope, "B-because you're my boyfriend...?"

He opened his mouth, then closed it, realizing a second later how much of a question that was. Placing his free hand on top of both of hers, he replied firmly, " _Yeah._ "

Her eyes shimmered. She tugged him closer, pulling their hands closer to her face like she was going to kiss one of his hands.

"I can't believe you," she said tenderly. "You always sound so sure of yourself when it comes to me. D-do you even know what you're getting into?"

"No," he answered honestly. Unwilling to let go of her hands, he glanced down at the ground to wordlessly ask if she wanted to sit down. She nodded, and they adjusted themselves so he was on the ground while she was on his lap. It was easier for him to release her hands when it meant wrapping an arm around her waist instead.

"I just know it's worth it," he added. "These have been the best days of school I've ever had. I already thought I couldn't love you more, and now you're not holding yourself back anymore. You're happier, you're going after what you want, and if that's me—"

She turned her face into his shoulder as she snuggled against him, squeaking out, " _I-it definitely is._ "

His gaze softened, his hand trailing upwards to rub her shoulder. "Then _I_ want to be the voice that turns your song into a duet."

She peeked up from his shoulder to look at him, the blush on her face even more beautiful than the last. She leaned up, placing a light kiss on his cheek, and he tilted his head to kiss her on the lips. She held it for a few seconds, but pulled away when she suddenly started laughing.

"I'm sorry," she said, this time not even the slightest bit apologetic as all of her previous nerves evaporated.

He hummed curiously, tilting his head to encourage her to go on.

Smiling playfully, she teased, "I-I don't think we're going to get much singing done if we're a duet."

He broke out into his dumbest grin of the day, laughing alongside her. Any tension from before had long since faded, their lunch and his guitar case completely forgotten as they hugged each other.

He already foresaw the first few complications of dating her, presuming that everything worked out and she was still allowed to be Ladybug. For one, he'd have to cover for her if she had to go transform, which meant the possibility of lying to their friends. There would also be more dates where she might have to arrive late or leave early, and he'd have to tell off anyone who tried to talk bad about it to him behind her back. There was also how careful they'd have to be when she was Ladybug and just hope that - if they _were_ to forget her transformation - no one would be around to see them.

But of course, being the Couffaine that he was, he couldn't bring himself to care at that moment.

They couldn't even pull away without kissing each other again, further proving Marinette's point that their "singing" would be at a minimum like this. He simply chuckled, pressing a kiss to her temple and teasing her back, "I'm not much of a singer anyway."

Nuzzling his shoulder with a giggle, she added on, "Plus, lyrics are just a bunch of words that get sung instead of spoken."

He blinked, confused at what she meant by that. She stared at him, then gave him a squeeze as they harmonized with a noise of contentment.

"You said it yourself: _Music is often simpler than words._ "

He had to kiss her again for that.


End file.
